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Spirituality
and Spiritual
Development in
Youth Work
A consultation paper from
The National Youth Agency
NYA Spirituality and Spiritual Development in Youth Work
SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K




        This consultation document has been commissioned

     by the Department for Education and Skills and prepared by
     The National Youth Agency. The NYA is grateful to the DfES

       for its ongoing support of its work. Any views expressed

                  are not necessarily those of the DfES or

                         individuals working within it.




                                        Published by




        Eastgate House, 19–23 Humberstone Road, Leicester LE5 3GJ.
                  Tel: 0116 242 7350. Fax: 0116 242 7444.
             E-mail: nya@nya.org.uk Website: www.nya.org.uk



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Contents
Letter from Bishop Roger Sainsbury, Chair of The NYA                                             v
Questions relating to the whole report                                                          vi
1 The historical and faith context to the subject                                               1
2 What is spirituality?                                                                         4
3 What is spiritual development?                                                               11
4 What is the role of spirituality and spiritual development
    in youth work?                                                                             15
       Historical continuity                                                                   15
       National Occupational Standards                                                         16
       Young people’s developmental stage                                                      17
       The role of youth worker                                                                18
       The ‘subversive’/enriching role of spirituality in youth work                           19
       Preparing young people to be canny about spiritual matters                              20
       Broad observations on the above threads                                                 20
5 Key areas for the field arising from this debate                                              21
       How to provide opportunities for young people to explore their
       spirituality                                                                            21
       Role of faith communities in developing spirituality                                    23
       What spiritual development means in a secular/statutory setting                         24
       Spiritual process and learning outcomes                                                 25
       Social justice, social action and spirituality                                          25
6 Conclusions                                                                                  27
6 Questions relating to the whole report (Response paper)                                      28
6 Questions emerging from the paper to be addressed in the consultation                        30
Appendix 1 Contribution of people with faith to informal education and
youth work                                                                                     33
Appendix 2 The Golden Rule                                                                     35
Appendix 3 Faith / spiritual development theories                                              36
Appendix 4 Spectrum model                                                                      40
Appendix 5 National Occupational Standards                                                     41
Appendix 6 Newton’s developmental stages                                                       42
Appendix 7 FYT’s ways of working with spirituality                                             43
Bibliography                                                                                   45




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Acknowledgments
I am extremely grateful to all the people who have had conversations with
me about spirituality and spiritual development and have in this way made
contributions to this consultation paper. I have been very enriched by these
discussions and by the importance people have given this subject and hope that
I have interpreted people’s thoughts fairly.

I am also aware that this is an ambitious project and that this first paper
is bound to be partial and fall short. I sincerely hope that people will come
forward with new ideas and information so that this subject is treated with the
respect and weight that it deserves.

At the heart of this paper are formal questions for response – ideally to be
received by 31 July 2005. Responses should be sent to Maxine Green, c/o
The National Youth Agency. E-mail, for the attention of Maxine Green, to
mariet@nya.org.uk or send to The National Youth Agency, Eastgate House,
19–23 Humberstone Road, Leicester LE5 3GJ.

In particular I would like to thank the Frontier Youth Trust and Nigel Pimlott
for allowing me to use extracts from the forthcoming publication Inspire Too
(Scripture Union © 2005*) and The Religious Society of Friends for their
comprehensive work on spiritual development.

Also, Trudi Newton, Chandu Christian, Tim Clapton, The Inter Faith Network
for the United Kingdon for permission to use the extract from Connect and
The Infed network (www.infed.org), Valdosta State University (http://chiron.
valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/regsys/maslow.html), Spectrum and Youth and Policy.

Maxine Green
February 2005




* May not be reproduced without permission in writing from the author and Frontier Youth Trust.



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Letter from Bishop Roger Sainsbury, Chair of The NYA
Dear Colleague

I would like to invite you to be part of a consultation on the subject of
Spirituality and Spiritual Development in Youth Work.

This document is a consultation paper to collect thoughts and ideas from the
youth work field to help form a collective understanding about spirituality and
spiritual development in youth work.

The consultation paper was commissioned by the Department for Education
and Skills from The National Youth Agency. The commissioning of this paper
follows several meetings which included people in the field to extend our
thinking on spirituality and spiritual development in the changing context of
young people’s lives. The paper was drafted by Maxine Green.

Spiritual development is one of the key aims of modern youth work and is part
of the National Occupational Standards. Hence it is important to know what
the concept now represents and how the youth work profession should respond
to this area of work. This paper has been written with a view to capturing the
key areas where spirituality and spiritual development connect and are part of
youth work.

Views are being sought from the field during Spring and Summer 2005 and
feedback from this consultation will inform a paper to be written later in 2005.
The aim of the final paper will be to clarify the present place of spirituality
and spiritual development in youth work and to inform professional reflection,
policy and practice.

Feedback, comments and views are requested in two areas. Firstly, with a view
to the whole document, to check any significant omissions and inaccuracies
and any areas of the subject which need further explanation or clarification.
Questions to prompt responses follow this letter and are included in the
response section at the end of the document. Secondly, on the specific issues
which are raised in the debate. Questions on these issues are distributed
through the text with a proforma for responses at the end of the document.


Yours sincerely




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                         Questions relating to the whole report

     1. To what extent do you find the overall paper convincing? Where are its
        strengths and weak points?

     2. Are there any serious omissions from the paper, in terms of important
        literature or arguments, ideas and positions that are unjustly neglected?

     3. Are there any elements in the paper that could be further strengthened?
        Do you have additional evidence to support these? Are there significant
        nuances, angles or implications which have been neglected?

     4. In the light of your reactions to the earlier questions and to the body of the
        paper, what further questions need to be asked to stimulate this debate?

     5. At this stage, what do you think are the main implications for future
        research, and for policy and practice?

     6. Have you any suggestions how best to take this debate forward in the field
        so that it can best inform policy and practice?




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1. The historical and faith context to the subject
   1.1.    Youth work from its inception has had a strong focus on values and these
           values have often been presented in a spiritual or religious framework. As
           Young says:

           Youth work is and always has been concerned with the development of young
           people’s values. From its beginning, commitments to ‘the improvement of
           the spiritual and mental condition of young men’ (YMCA 1844 Statement
           of Purpose, in YMCA 1987:4), the development of ‘the whole personality
           of individual boys and girls’ (HMSO 1940: para. 2) and the desire for young
           people to ‘better equip themselves to live the life of mature, creative
           and responsible members of a free society’ (Maud 1951:3), all expressed
           aspirations which were centrally concerned not with the activities in which
           young people participated but with the values they held and the ‘kind of
           people’ they were to become.

           Ethical Issues in Youth Work ed S. Banks ‘Youth worker as guide, philosopher
           and friend’ K. Young: Routledge 1999



   1.2.    This was further developed by the McNair committee as Young says:

           In 1944 the McNair Committee commented on the need for youth workers to
           act as ‘guides, philosophers and friends’ (HMSO 1944: 103) to young people.
           The contention here is that youth workers should provide a steer for young
           people through the philosophical enquiry into the nature, significance and
           interrelationship of their values and beliefs, based on a relationship or true
           friendship – wanting for someone what one thinks good for his or her sake
           and not for one’s own (Aristotle).

           Ethical Issues in Youth Work ed S. Banks ‘Youth worker as guide, philosopher
           and friend’ K. Young: Routledge 1999



   1.3.    Lord Redcliffe-Maud, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, in
           1951 defined the aim of youth services as:

           To offer individual young people in their leisure time, opportunities of various
           kinds, complementary to those at home, formal education and work, to
           discover and develop their personal resources of body in mind and spirit and
           thus better equip themselves to live the life of mature creative and responsible
           members of the Free Society. (HMSO 1951).

           This particularly included the spirit as a focus of youth work and this vision
           of the work is continued in the Albemarle Report, as Young says:



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           In 1960, the Albemarle Report declared that the youth service was responsible
           for helping young people develop ‘a sense of fellowship’, ‘the capacity to make
           sound judgements’ and ‘mutual respect and tolerance’ (HMSO 1960: 37).

           Ethical Issues in Youth Work ed S. Banks ‘Youth worker as guide, philosopher
           and friend’. K. Young: Routledge 1999

           In 1998 David Blunkett in The Learning Age restated how learning develops
           a spiritual side of our lives.

           As well as securing our economic future, learning has a wider contribution.
           It helps make ours a civilized society, develops a spiritual side of our lives
           and promotes active citizenship. Learning enables people to play a full
           part in their community. It strengthens the family, the neighbourhood and
           consequently the nation.

           This developmental, community based value has been central in youth work
           development and spiritual development has been a given part of part of this
           holistic value driven approach.



           By education I mean an all-round drawing out of the best in a child and man
           – body, mind and spirit. Mahatma Gandhi



    1.4.   Youth work has subsequently developed from this value informed approach.
           In the voluntary sector this has built on the work of early faith pioneers.
           In the statutory sector the value shaping of early work has continued to
           underpin youth work process.



    1.5.   The spiritual framework of youth work draws heavily on the pioneering
           work of early social and educational reformers from faith communities. In
           Victorian and pre-Victorian times the spirit of reform drew individuals into
           setting up social enterprises for communities, many of these centres were
           concerned with young people.



    1.6.   A selection of examples of early ‘youth workers’ is found in Appendix 1 which
           has been copied from the www.infed.org website. Further biographies and
           commentaries can be viewed on the site which show that although many
           early informal educators in the United Kingdom were Christians, Jews,
           Hindus, Muslims and other faiths contributed to the early work.



    1.7.   These early pioneers were drawing on their faiths and philosophical beliefs



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           and often saw the principle aim of the work in terms of spiritual change.



           George Williams and the YMCA movement.
           They set out with ‘the view of uniting and directing the efforts of Christian young
           men for the spiritual welfare of their fellows in the various departments of
           commercial life’ (YMCA 1857: front piece). In other words, they began by looking
           to the needs of people like themselves – a form of mutual aid. As the Movement
           grew, those involved were quick to amend rules and activities in response to the
           needs they identified. For example, by 1848 the object of the Association was not
           just ‘spiritual’ but also ‘mental’ improvement; and the concern was with young
           men in general. From www.infed.org


   1.8.    Current work being undertaken by faith communities

           Youth work in the faith sector has dramatically increased in the last ten to
           fifteen years. This has been an increase both in the number of professionally
           qualified workers working in this sector, and the professionalisation of the
           work. For example, in Christian youth work young people are much more
           likely to experience informal education rather than be taught or entertained.
           In many Church of England dioceses the number of full time youth workers
           exceeds the number of statutory youth workers. Other faiths are also showing
           a keen interest in continuing to develop their work with young people. In
           addition faith communities work in social action projects which focus on
           young people. This builds up to a significant body of work being undertaken
           by professional youth workers who have an explicit spiritual context to their
           work.



   1.9.    It is increasingly important as this field is extensive, and possibly expanding,
           that there is a professional confidence in how spirituality and faith ‘sit’ within
           the wider youth work agenda and practice.

           For many years the lack of knowledge in the profession about religious
           practices has meant that there has been a reluctance to ‘interfere’. Under
           the umbrella of equal opportunities differences were ‘respected’ without
           being really explored. In an effort to be inclusive there was a reluctance to
           challenge work in a faith context. This is especially true in work within the
           Islamic community where the appropriate sensitivity to the minority position
           sometimes means that dialogue is limited to safe, non-controversial areas.
           For a greater understanding and awareness in our communities it is essential
           that concepts such as spirituality, faith and religion are fully open to sensitive
           and informed debate.

   1.10. Wider context in which work is being done – social cohesion



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           The role of faith communities and spirituality is being explored by projects
           as a way of building social cohesion. Work done in an interfaith context
           can encourage understanding and demonstrate to young people in their
           communities that all the great faiths have at their centre something termed
           ‘the golden rule’. This entreats – in the words of each particular faith –
           followers of religions to be respectful of others. See appendix 2 for the golden
           rule.

           It is pertinent to view social change in terms of values and how these affect
           behaviour rather than simply address aggressive or protective actions in the
           community. A common language based on respecting the spirit of each other
           and in each other would be a powerful tool for reconciliation and positive
           community living.




2. What is spirituality?

    2.1.   There is a real problem in trying to ‘define’ what spirituality is. For some,
           there is a natural affinity and the word encourages them to rush towards the
           concept with a feeling of ownership. For others the word carries so much
           baggage and ill feeling they despise it and want nothing to do with it.



           I have a friend who is a nun. She told me once that when she went into a
           supermarket wearing her habit people had two reactions. One group would go
           towards her and seek her out. The other group would move to a different aisle,
           possibly embarrassed. I think spirituality is a lot like this.



    2.2.   As well as invoking feelings the term itself is a slippery concept. As
           spirituality cannot be held, tasted, heard but relates to an interior perspective
           it is difficult to keep it still and coherent in order to ascribe qualities to it.



    2.3.   Additionally, spirituality can be intensely personal and unique so people
           invest a lot of energy in what it means to them. It is therefore hard to
           have a disinterested debate in the subject and essential when this is being
           discussed that people are in a position where there is mutual respect and an
           understanding and acceptance that spirituality can mean different things.



    2.4.   Having said this about spirituality one young woman interviewed had no
           understanding at all of the concept and although academically bright found it
           hard to relate at all to what this could mean in her own life.



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   2.5.    Research by Clapton into ‘The religious experience and faith development of
           non-church going young people’ (1993) compared church going young people
           with those who did not go to church. The research concluded that spiritual
           experiences were by no means limited to church going young people.



           A clear picture has emerged showing the spiritual awareness of nonchurch
           young people. They are active in making sense of themselves, the world and
           the existential questions which they encounter. They are recipients of the most
           profound religious experiences, comparable with any reported by the church
           attenders. Finally, they make sense of their lives through a faith which is
           constructed by centres of value and power, creating an ‘ultimate environment’.

           Timothy Clapton ‘The religious experience and faith development of non-church
           going young people’, (1993), Research thesis.


   2.6.    Nigel Pimlott of Frontier Youth Trust has been working with the concept of
           spirituality and social cohesion. He writes:

           As I have the privilege of travelling up and down the country leading workshops
           on this subject, I have taken the opportunity of inviting workshop participants to
           come up with their own words and definitions of what is meant by ‘spirituality’
           and ‘spiritual development’. These are set out below for consideration as possible
           definitions.

           Words associated with spirituality:
           blend                       non-material                         breath
           openness                    beyond ourselves                     beauty
           awareness of others         divine                               diverse
           new/different experience    human                                incomplete
           exploration                 fear                                 journey
           a void                      uncertainty                          God/Jesus
           mystical                    process                              personal/collect
           abstract                    your God goes with you               wholeness
           mediums                     mystery                              transient
           no absolutes                the unknown                          taboo
           hope                        inwardly turned                      uncontrollable
           experience                  everything                           conscious
           catharsis                   non-physical/biological              spirit
           peace                       reality                              feeling/emotion
           no God                      ritual                               enrichment
           transcendence               communion with God                   heart
           depth                       connection with beyond               a way of relating
           community                   searching for something              bonding with something
                                                                                 Continued over page



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           new age                          indefinable                      mantra
           arts                             quiet time/meditation           prayer
           connectedness                    dangerous                       searching
           choices                          confusing                       fulfilment



           The very essence of the Hindu Philosophy is that man has a spirit, and has a body
           and not that man is a body and may have a spirit also. Swami Vivekananda



    2.7.   Zaehener (1997) suggests that there are four types of spirituality within and
           between religions:

           Four types of spirituality:
            Loving union with a personal God;
            A sense of oneness with the Absolute and the world;
            A sense of being separate from the world; and
            Becoming one with one’s real self.

           Zaehener R.C. (1997), The Hutchinson Encyclopaedia of Living Faiths, London:
           Hutchinson



    2.8.   The attempt at defining spirituality is in tune with this research into the
           subject. There is a divergent quality to the concept with many people seeing
           different end points and goals. One group working on the concept became
           quite heated when the researcher tried to ‘pin’ spirituality down and saw the
           very act of definition as defeating the endeavour of the word.


    2.9.   There were consistent images of spirituality which have emerged both
           through reading and through meetings with people. These are that
           spirituality:
            Is about the ‘other’ – either the other in terms of a God or a transcendent
               being – or ‘other’ in terms of being different to the more mundane areas of
               life.
            Is not something separate from life but flows through life almost as a
               different but essential dimension.
            Is being squeezed out of people’s experience because of the present
               cultural expectation of achieving fulfillment through having rather than
               being.
            Is connected with crises and peak experiences in one’s life.
            Is something to do with relationship and connection – both with people
               and in community, and with the environment and the world.
            Is an internal sense of meaning and story – a deep understanding of ‘who I
               am and my place here’.



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            Is not necessarily ‘cosy and warm’ but can be awesome and unsettling.
            Is about being ‘fully human’ integrating and balancing different aspects of
             the self to live to one’s deepest potential.
            Is about an inner ‘truth’ and deep self knowledge.



           Be obedient to your truth      Religious Society of Friends



           Then what is the motive which keeps us busy in the Sufi Order, what is our object
           in taking this path of initiation? Our object in this is to become human, to find the
           way how to become human, how to live a human being’s life to its fullness, how to
           live a life of love, harmony and beauty. Inayat Khan



           Truth resides in the heart of every man. And it is there that he must seek it, in
           order to be guided by it so that, at the least it will appear to him. But we do not
           have the right to force others to see the Truth in our way. Mahatma Gandhi


           A human being is part of a whole, called by us the ‘Universe,’ a part limited in
           time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something
           separated from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This
           delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to
           affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from
           this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures
           and the whole of nature in its beauty. Albert Einstein



           about spirituality . . .
           (Some people) . . . have suggested that we are talking about an awareness that
           there is more to life than meets the eye, an understanding that life is full of
           things that inspire awe and wonder, a rationale that incorporates paradoxes,
           the unexplained, and mysteries. Yet others have reflected upon the sense that
           life is a complex journey weaved by understanding and grappling with the issues
           relating to understanding ourselves and others, the environment that we live
           in and the un-quantifiable ‘out there’ subjects of god, the non material and the
           transcendent. Nigel Pimlott Frontier Youth Trust


   2.10. A point raised by many was that spirituality could not be domesticated.
         That there is a level of meaning within spirituality that is immense and
         confounds restricting the concept into neat compartments. This was seen
         as a really positive influence in the world in that spirituality has the
         potential of introducing creative possibilities to breathe life into sometimes
         sterile order.



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           Dualism
           Many cultures use a dualist framework to construct their world and to build a
           common sense of meaning. Items and words have their opposites and sit with
           each other to bring about a balanced world, where the qualities of one of the items
           reflects and limits the qualities of the other.

           Dark             Light                                    Male            Female
           Sun              Moon                                     Hot             Cold
           Body             Spirit                                   High            Low
           Love             Hate                                     Rich            Poor
           Sick             Well                                     Order           Chaos




           This dualism is central to Chinese cosmology and is seen in the Yin and Yang
           symbols – where Yin and Yang symbolise the sun and the moon.

           There are two opposing forces active in the universe. Yin exists in Yang and Yang exists
           in Yin. This is the changing combination of negative and positive, dark and light, cold
           and hot which keeps the world spinning and creates Chi – the life giving force.

           Even where a culture has not got a specific mythology or ideology, dualism can
           help frame thinking.

           It is necessary that this be the aim of our entire life. In all our thoughts and
           actions, we must be conscious of the infinite. Rabindranath Tagore



           All this talk and turmoil and noise and movement is outside the veil; inside the veil
           is silence and calm and peace. Bayezid Bistami



    2.11. One could argue that the role of ‘spirituality’ in youth work is to provide
          a sense of balance – to give the profession a divergent, exploratory aspect
          to balance the more convergent particular outcomes and targets. This is
          explored later in the paper.



    2.12. In thinking about spirituality many people cited Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
          In its original form there were five ‘needs’ that had to be attended to ‘in order’
          – with the most basic needs being satisfied first. For example, if a person has
          basic biological and physiological needs they will seek to satisfy these before
          their need to belong. Maslow described the first four levels as deficiency
          motivators and the fifth level as growth motivator. He also said that aims and
          drives were focused on the next higher order needs.



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           Maslow’s five level Hierarchy of needs model (1954)

           1. Biological and Physiological needs – air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex,
              sleep, etc.
           2. Safety needs – protection from elements, security, order, law, limits,
              stability, etc.
           3. Belongingness and Love needs – work group, family, affection, relationships,
              etc.
           4. Esteem needs – self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status,
              dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc.
           5. Cognitive needs – search for knowledge, understanding, meaning etc.

           People spoke of the ‘self-actualisation’ need as where spirituality might ‘sit’
           and how this is part of the education of the whole person. It is interesting
           that in further developments of this model in the 1970s another three
           categories have been added, namely:

           6. Aesthetic needs – appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.
           7. Self-Actualisation needs – realising personal potential, self-fulfilment, seeking
              personal growth and peak experiences.
           8. Transcendence needs – helping others to achieve self-actualisation.




Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
                                                Tran-
                                              scendence

                                                 Self-
                                             Actualisation




                                            Aesthetic Needs




                                            Cognitive Needs




                                             Esteem Needs




                                      Belongingness & Love Needs




                                             Safety Needs




                                          Physiological Needs




From http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/regsys/maslow.html

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     To reach cosmic understanding, it is necessary to unite our feeling with that
     infinite feeling that penetrates everything. In fact, for man, true progress coincides
     with the breadth of the base of our feelings. All our poetry, philosophy, science, art
     and religion serve to embrace with our understanding the spheres too vast and
     high. Rabindranath Tagore

     Although Maslow’s model has been the subject of great discussion on how
     it can be used in education the overall understanding of meeting basic needs
     and working developmentally with young people to reach the highest aims is
     very much part of youth work philosophy.

     Alan Chapman on his website www.businessballs.com lists self-actualising
     characteristics that share many of the words and descriptions from Nigel
     Pimlott’s list above.



     Maslow’s Self-Actualising characteristics
      keen sense of reality – aware of real situations – objective judgment, rather
       than subjective;
      see problems in terms of challenges and situations requiring solutions, rather
       than see problems as personal complaints or excuses;
      need for privacy and comfortable being alone;
      reliant on own experiences and judgment – independent – not reliant on
       culture and environment to form opinions and views;
      not susceptible to social pressures – non-conformist;
      democratic, fair and non-discriminating – embracing and enjoying all cultures,
       races and individual styles;
      socially compassionate – possessing humanity;
      accepting others as they are and not trying to change people;
      comfortable with oneself – despite any unconventional tendencies. A few close
       intimate friends rather than many surface relationships;
      sense of humour directed at oneself or the human condition, rather than at
       the expense of others;
      spontaneous and natural – true to oneself, rather than being how others want
     � excited and interested in everything, even ordinary things;
      creative, inventive and original; and
      seek peak experiences that leave a lasting impression.



     Man is setting out to satisfy needs that mean more to him than simply
     nourishment and clothing. He is embarking on a rediscovery of himself. The
     history of man is that his voyage toward the unknown, in the search for the
     realisation of his immortal Self, of his soul. Rabindranath Tagore



     You yourself are your own obstacle – rise above yourself.          Hafiz



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   2.13. John Hull in Youth and Policy Autumn 1999 speaks of the quality of the spirit
         and argues that the spiritual is not a part to be added and is not a part of the
         whole but is a dimension. The spiritual dimension can no more be taken
         away than the third dimension can be taken away from an object.



           The same is true of the spiritual. When we speak of the spirit of a sporting team,
           we refer to some quality of the behaviour and attitudes of the team as a whole,
           and the same is true of the ‘spirit of the nation’, ‘the spirit of war’ and so on. In
           such expressions we do not refer to a part of the whole, but to some energising
           and invigorating quality of the whole. John Hull, Youth and Policy, Autumn 1999


   2.14. There is also a key question about how and where spirituality ‘fits’ with the
         concept of faith and religion. John Hull in Youth and Policy Autumn 1999
         explored the inter-relatedness of the three concepts and concluded that the
         concepts of faith and religion are subsumed in the concept of spirituality. He
         says:

           . . . to the question of faith. Religion and spirituality are not attitudes.
           Spirituality . . . is the achievement of humanness, and the religions are the
           traditions and techniques for achieving this in relation to the transcendent
           Ultimate. Faith, however, has to do with subjectivity. It is the positive human
           response to the issues raised by spirituality. John Hull, Youth and Policy, Autumn
           1999



   2.15. It is has been virtually impossible to come up with an absolute, clean
         definition of spirituality which can be used in every circumstance. However, it
         is also apparent that ‘spirituality’ can have a place as a very useful shorthand
         to refer to this particular dimension which is an essential part of our true
         humanity.



3. What is spiritual development?

   3.1.    There are countless religious sayings and thoughts which point to spiritual
           growth and development:



           Religion is a realisation, not talk, not doctrines, nor theories, however beautiful all
           these may be. Religion is being and becoming, not hearing and acknowledging. It
           is not an intellectual assent but the transformation of one’s whole life.
           Swami Viveknanda



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            When I open my heart I find Truth and Discretion in all things.
            Mechtild of Magdeburg



            When a man
            Battles with his soul,
            The life and the soul of the whole world enter
            And he is free Rabindranath Tagore



            Believe nothing that binds you to the sole authority of your masters or priests.
            That which you have tried yourself, which you have experienced, which you have
            recognised as true, and which will be beneficial to you and to others; believe that,
            and shape your conduct to it. Buddha



     3.2.   Following on from John Hull’s theory above spiritual development could be
            thought of as a process of humanisation.



            Since the spiritual is, broadly speaking, concerned with the achievement
            of personhood, it may be thought of as synonymous with the process of
            humanisation.

            . . . becoming human is a process, the result of which is an achievement, and
            therefore we may speak of the process of humanisation as being our ontological
            vocation (Freire 1972;1985). This process may be called spiritualisation, since
            there is no achievement of humanness without a realisation of the human
            spirit. John Hull, Youth and Policy, Autumn 1999

     3.3.   Nigel Pimlott in his work around the country asking people to come up with
            ideas about spiritual development got the following responses:



            Spiritual Development is about:
             a journey of discovery;
             a journey/point/process of discovering that there is something more than self;
             existing outside of faith;
             is it born in all of us?;
             a journey towards wholeness;
             a deepening understanding of all things not material;
             understanding which cannot be explained;
             awareness of self, others, environment and God;
             the long path;
             growth in and application of faith;



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               growing into wholeness;
               the natural process that results from spiritual awareness;
               people growing in faith and belief;
               having a growing awareness of self and life and the meaning of life. It’s about
               moving towards an integrity of personhood;
               if spirituality is the search for meaning and value, then spiritual development
               is how those searches and quests develop;
               spiritual Development has a link with morality – knowing right and wrong. It
               has a link with an awareness of self and others;
               spirituality is being ‘human’ it is everlasting and in oneself and in others as
               you meet them; or
               spirituality is a process of searching within for the truth without.



   3.4.    Ofsted has also presented an outline definition of spiritual development for
           work in schools:



           ‘Spiritual development relates to that aspect of inner life through which pupils
           acquire insights into their personal existence which are of enduring worth. It is
           characterised by reflection, the attribution of meaning to experience, valuing a
           non-material dimension to life and intimations of an enduring reality. ‘Spiritual’
           is not synonymous with ‘religious’; all areas of the curriculum may contribute to
           pupils’ spiritual development.’ Ofsted Handbook for the Inspection of Schools
           1994



   3.5.    The same difficulty in trying to find a definition is apparent in the search for
           an understanding of spiritual development. Nigel Pimlott of FYT writes:


           Spiritual development is not something we can make for others. It is a journey that
           each individual has to take. The journey cannot be made easier by taking short
           cuts and everyone has their own starting point and their own final destination. It is
           a journey that can be shared with others and it involves challenging ourselves and
           the young people we work with. It involves new experiences and doesn’t impose
           ideas and faith onto others. From Nigel Pimlott FYT



   3.6.    Some people would also argue that spiritual development is not about
           achieving any particular end, rather that it is the process of increased
           awareness and understanding that enables a continual sense of becoming.
           Many religious teachings use the journey as a metaphor of continuous
           personal growth, rather than a description of how to get to a particular
           destination. This emphasis on process is very familiar to youth work
           method.



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            We want to deepen our awareness of that which is deepest in us, which responds
            to other people and the world around us, which gives us direction and life. Such
            openness and awareness has to be nurtured and encouraged. It is vital for all
            spiritual learning that there are opportunities for reflection, sharing, discussion
            and response. In a Quaker context this means we try to interpret our inward
            experiences in worship, listen together to discern what we must do and put our
            beliefs into action together. Children and Young People’s Report, Britain Yearly
            Meeting 2004, Religious Society of Friends.



     3.7.   Spiritual development in some faiths is seen as being through religious
            practice and is expressed in religious terms. This means that some people are
            not used to expressing spirituality as a free standing concept as it is so closely
            linked into the religious framework. In limited conversations with Muslims
            this seemed to be a perception which was held.



     3.8.   Different cultures and faiths have key concepts which relate to spirituality,
            particularly in the youth work context. Chandu Christian writing in Youth
            and Policy Autumn 1999 writes:



            Youth work has yet to absorb and use the multi-faith or multicultural concepts that
            are now available to it. For example, the concepts of Guru-Shishya as relationship,
            Islam as submission, the Tao as the way, Zen as a method of self-actualisation
            without complicated rituals, the Shabad (Word) as a revelation – these and many
            other concepts are now part of our multi-cultural legacy. Youth work can apply
            them for both personal and spiritual development of young people as well as to
            create a tolerant and understanding society. Chandu Christian – Spirituality in
            the context to multi-cultural youth work in Youth and Policy, Autumn 1999


     3.9.   There are some theologians who have produced theories of faith
            development. Most notable in the Christian tradition are Fowler and
            Westerhof – see appendix 3 for further information. The Quakers have used
            these theories and combined them with the work of John Lee, a former
            Diocesan Youth Officer for the Church of England, to come up with a matrix
            for spiritual development. See appendix 3 for further information. The
            ecumenical training resource for youth workers, Spectrum, has also developed
            a spiritual quest model, see appendix 4.


     3.10. The idea of spiritual development is one which is linked to the idea of
           ‘becoming’ and can be viewed either as a free standing concept or as a concept
           that is deeply embedded and integrated within a religious framework.




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           If spirituality is a dimension of experience as is argued above, then spiritual
           development has the potential of occurring from all experience. Obviously
           some experiences will be more fruitful than others in enabling a young person
           to deepen their understanding and awareness.

           As in other development models learning is enhanced when the young person
           ‘notices’ or registers the experience. This indicates two ways in which the
           youth worker can aid the spiritual development process. The first is by giving
           opportunities and experiences which are spiritually rich, the second is to
           facilitate the young person’s reflection on their spiritual learning.



           1. Can we define Spirituality and Spiritual Development?

           2. If yes, what are the definitions? If no, can we get working understandings to
              forward the debate?




4. What is the role of spirituality and spiritual
   development in youth work?

   The purpose of youth work is to ensure that young people have a good death.
   Good youth work process gives young people tools to reach their full potential so that
   when they die, in old age, they can look back on a life of achievement and feel deep
   contentment. Maxine Green



   In this section several key threads which contribute to the debate are explored. In
   the conclusion there are some broad observations relating to these key threads.



   We need to restore the place of spirituality in the public as well as the private world,
   relating it to truth as well as to personal experience. It should be understood as the
   essential source of character development for a society based on sacrificial love.
   Youth A Part, 1996, Church House Publishing p31



   4.1.    Historical continuity
           In many of the significant times when youth work has been called to
           describe itself the value based nature of the profession has been reiterated.
           The values of equality, empowerment, education and participation emerge
           from a philosophy of the profession which is about the whole nature of the
           young person. Even where reports have not been explicit about this there is



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            an implicit understanding that youth work is holistic. It is not just about
            increasing skills, changing behaviour or imparting knowledge, it is about
            development of the whole of the young person. In the early shaping of the
            profession this was spelled out as the development of body, mind and spirit.
            At different times in the history of youth work one or another element was in
            the ascendancy. For example, some early youth work was very much focused
            on the spirit. Later with the rise of outdoor education as a youth work tool
            the development of the body was seen to be the key. In the last five or ten
            years the emphasis has moved to accrediting specific skills and in some cases
            the wider aims of youth work and informal education have been taken over
            by the need to achieve particular targets.

            The youth work profession is able to put a strong case forward about how
            achievements are stronger and more sustained if they are gained from
            an integrated whole person approach. However, where funding streams
            encourage this targeted work it becomes even more important that the
            holistic approach is upheld.

            As spirituality and spiritual development is part of the whole youth work
            offer, maintaining an understanding of how and where this occurs in youth
            work is one way of ensuring the holistic approach continues.



     4.2.   National Occupational Standards
            Spiritual development is part of National Occupational Standards. It could be
            argued that many of the standards which are looking at overall growth and
            development of young people include an element relating to spirituality. The
            key purpose of youth work in the National Occupational Standards gives an
            indication of the whole person approach.

            The key purpose of youth work is to work with young people to facilitate
            their personal, social, and educational development, and enable them to gain
            a voice, influence and place in society in a period of their transition from
            dependence to independence.

            While spiritual development is not mentioned specifically in the Key Purpose
            it is an integral part of personal and social development. As the overall
            purpose is divided into sections the role of spirituality can be traced within
            the standards. For example Section A states; ‘Build relationships with young
            people which enable them to explore and make sense of their experiences and
            plan and take action’. For young people who have a spiritual life this would
            necessarily be part of their exploration, their experience and would feature in
            how they make future plans. Some would argue that this spiritual aspect is
            also there for young people without a particular spiritual framework and that
            it features as a spiritual dimension to their lives and experience even if it is
            not named and specifically acknowledged.



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           The National Occupational Standards have a unit with a particular focus
           on spirituality. Section B is to ‘Facilitate young people’s learning and their
           personal and social development’. Unit B.2.2. has the specific focus to:

           Assist young people in the exploration and development of their spiritual
           self:



           This is about encouraging young people to see themselves in a wider setting
           of relationships with others and with the environment around them. It is about
           enabling young people to have a sense of and value their life journey.



           See Appendix 5 for details of the unit.

           The unit describes knowledge, behaviour and values which constitute an
           approach to spirituality and spiritual development. It describes how young
           people should be encouraged to understand and know their own spiritual
           framework, how they can recognise and respect others’ religion, faith and
           spirituality and how they can use an awareness of their spiritual selves ‘to
           explore their feelings at times of great joy or pain in their lives’.

           The inclusion of a unit which focuses on the ‘spiritual self ’ is to be
           welcomed, both for professionals working in a faith setting and for those
           working in a secular context.

           This unit provides a challenge for the profession in how this standard
           can be met. The youth worker working in a faith context is challenged to
           give a broad approach, whilst the youth worker working in a secular post
           is challenged to find ways of exploring this dimension of young people’s
           experience.



           That soul which does not attain to the degree of purity corresponding with the
           light and vocation it has received from God can never be wholly content and at
           peace. St John of the Cross



   4.3.    Young people’s developmental stage
           Young people are at a stage where they are integrating different aspects of
           themselves. It is a stage where they endeavour to make sense of the world
           and construct their personal philosophy and sense of meaning. This is a time
           when many young people wrestle with existential questions and try and make
           sense of their own place in the world and their purpose in being alive. Trudi
           Newton has integrated Pam Levin’s theory of ‘Cycles of development’ with
           Jean Ilsley- Clarke’s theory to produce a developmental model (see Appendix



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            6). The model has six developmental stages with the sixth stage from 13 to
            18 years being the ‘integration’ stage.



            Stage                Tasks of young person         Needs, strokes       Stages in Change

            Integration          Separate                      Understand           Application and
            13 to 18-years       Be independent                Encourage            Integration
                                 Be responsible                Accept
                                 Have own needs                Support
                                 Have own values               Discuss
                                 Integrate sexuality           Celebrate



            Newton indicates firstly, the tasks of the young person from each stage and
            secondly, what they need from others to complete these tasks successfully to
            enable development and growth. She says that in the integration stage the
            young person will call upon the ways they have developed in the past and
            integrate them as they build up their new identity. For example, the teenager
            will withdraw, explore, try new ways of doing things. They will learn at this
            time to apply new skills appropriately and understand the context of what
            they do.

            This integration task is one where the young person revisits and reshapes
            the skills acquired in their earlier years into a framework for themselves
            which is connected to the community framework they find themselves
            in. By understanding themselves they are then able to separate, become
            independent, responsible and start to shape their adult identity. Their
            spirituality is a key component in this integration, both for young people with
            a faith or without a faith. John Hull’s idea of ‘humanisation’ couldn’t be more
            appropriate a concept for this stage.

            The youth worker role is also made explicit using this model – that is to
            understand, encourage, accept, support, discuss and celebrate with the young
            person.



     4.4.   The role of youth worker

            The time of adolescence is particularly turbulent for a young person. Who am
            I? becomes a particularly demanding question. In their struggle for an answer
            the youth worker or animateur has a particular role to play. Formal education
            may enable a young person to be more in harmony with the external world (to
            wit Bowen and Bloom), and as a consequence with their own individual self.
            Youth work enables a young person to be more in harmony with his or her own
            self and as a consequence with the rest of the world. Both formal and informal



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           education thus have a part to play in enabling young people to find their ‘real’
           selves. Chandu Christian – Spirituality in the context of multi-cultural youth work
           in Youth and Policy, Autumn 1999



           Christian in his article about spirituality in the context of multi-cultural
           youth work looks at the complementary role of formal and informal
           education. With formal education helping the young person become more in
           harmony with the external world and informal education helping the young
           person to be in harmony with his or her self. The features of this harmony
           with self could be broadly summed up in Maslow’s self actualisation
           characteristics. As already stated these characteristics correlate closely to
           people’s perceptions of spirituality and spiritual development. Youth workers,
           therefore have this potentially powerful role in helping young people know
           themselves, their ‘real selves’ and develop a sense of meaning and identity
           within their lives. See the section which refers to youth work practice in the
           field of spiritual development.



   4.5.    The ‘subversive’/enriching role of spirituality in youth work
           In an earlier section dualism was explored and the concept of Yin and Yang.
           There has been debate in youth work over the last five to ten years about the
           effect of increasing targeting of the work. The profession is being encouraged
           to look more and more at specific outcomes for young people. A lot of creative
           thought has been brought to bear by youth work staff and thinkers about how
           the existing ‘products’ of youth work can be recognised and accredited. There
           is widespread understanding of the advantages to young people when they can
           recognise distance traveled and outcomes achieved. However, another effect of
           increasing targeting is that youth work practice can change so that its success
           is measured principally in targets achieved. This can have a detrimental
           effect on the holistic, relationship based approach which is embedded in
           the values of the profession. By having something like ‘spirituality’ in the
           curriculum and practice there is a whole area which is much harder to pin
           down and constrain. The divergent nature of ‘spiritual development’ means
           that outcomes are much wider and individual. The outcomes are nearly all in
           the changes of value and meaning for the young person and these are much
           harder to quantify than a skill or piece of knowledge which can more easily be
           tested or monitored. Spirituality and spiritual development are by their nature
           ‘free’ subjects, and exploration of these areas potentially puts young people
           in touch with profound thinkers and social reformers. Where a lot of work
           with young people is geared to education, employment and training spiritual
           development is primarily about being a full human being. Spirituality as an
           area of the curriculum has the potential of exploring values at a deeper more
           profound level which results in the full education of the young person. It
           then also can inform the other areas of education as Christian outlined in his
           article. Ideally, formal and informal education are complementary, both are



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            needed for full and healthy development of the young person. In short, the
            inclusion of spirituality and spiritual development in the youth work agenda
            enriches the profession and the offer to young people.



     4.6.   Preparing young people to be canny about spiritual matters

            The quest for continually more satisfying and exciting experiences can lead to a
            disengagement from reality and can further alienate young people from those
            churches that do not provide constant positive experiences.
            Nigel Pimlott, Frontier Youth Trust, page 10



            There is a concern in some areas (especially those who are concerned about
            recruitment into new religious movements) about the vulnerability of young
            people to spiritual argument and persuasion. Young people who have not
            had any structured contact with their own spirituality may have a range
            of experiences which are incoherently yet powerfully held. At a time when
            young people want to break away and become independent there is a great
            temptation in adopting a religious or spiritual framework in which their
            own experiences may find a home. If on the other hand young people have
            been encouraged to understand their own spirituality and develop a spiritual
            framework they have a language and facility in matters of spirituality and
            are potentially more canny and able to question other faith or spiritual
            approaches. Some young people will develop this framework within a
            religious context, and for these young people the challenge is understanding
            how others’ approach religion and spirituality and to recognise, appreciate
            and hopefully celebrate difference. For those young people in a secular context
            the challenge is to find ways of facilitating the development of their spiritual
            framework, understanding others and becoming astute or canny about
            spiritual dynamics. This is an integral part of the empowerment aspect of
            youth work. It also is key in developing understanding which contributes to
            building positive communities and community cohesion and developing an
            understanding of equality.



            ‘When “I” and “You” are absent, I’ve no idea if this is a mosque, synagogue,
            church or temple.’ Mahmud Sahbistari



     4.7.   Broad observations on the above threads
            The above threads give points of connection between spirituality and the
            youth work profession. There is a historical continuity, spirituality is part
            of the standards of the profession, spiritual development is a feature of
            adolescent maturation and it ‘fits’ with the holistic approach of the youth
            worker. Also it can be seen how spirituality as part of the youth work agenda



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           brings a divergent quality to the curriculum and has the potential of ‘lifting’
           the work and bringing it alive. Finally, there is a need to spiritually equip
           young people so that they can manage the world with discernment and
           spiritual skills. The presence of spirituality in the profession could be seen
           as the ‘breath’ of the profession, the animation that Christian refers to in his
           article that enables the holistic development of young people.



           3. Has Spirituality and Spiritual Development a place in the youth work
              profession?

           4. If yes, what does this mean in terms of policy and practice?

           5. What effect does it have in how we go about face to face youth work?

           6. What do we have to put in place to integrate and develop this dimension in the
              youth work profession, for example, training?

           7. How do we discuss, debate and forward these ideas in the widest possible
              context, for example, working with faith and religious communities?




5. Key areas for the field to address arising from
  this debate

   5.1.    How to provide opportunities for young people to explore
           their spirituality



           A youth worker took a group of ten boys, aged 14 and 15, for a walk in
           Derbyshire. He knew the country well and planned the route with great care. He
           took the view that few young people actually enjoy walking for its own sake and
           therefore the journey had to be interspersed with a number of activities and
           incidents.

           The group was shown the route on a map, and someone was elected to find the
           route for the first part of the way. After a mile or two the group went through an
           old railway tunnel stopping at the centre point where it was not possible to see
           the light from either end. There was a good deal of clowning around in the total
           darkness. A little later the group stopped by a dew point and the response to the
           question ‘How long do we stay here was ‘five minutes or until the first one falls in’.
           Nobody did . . .



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     After lunch the youth worker took a geological hammer from his rucksack and
     chipped away at some pieces of rock . Asked what he was doing he responded,
     ‘go away, I’m busy’. Within ten minutes everyone was hunting for fossils and
     talking about them . . . The afternoon stop was taken by a stream and the youth
     worker encouraged the group to take off their boots and socks and paddle.
     No one had done this in a mountain stream before. The final stage of the walk
     included a sunset and a view – and the route had been chosen with this in
     mind. Education Observed 6: ‘Effective Youth Work’ (HMI, 1987)



     In the example above, which now sounds a bit dated, the youth worker
     is using a series of pre-planned activities to enable the young people to
     experience different things. The activities are paced, are different and
     ‘touch’ different parts of the young men’s experience. Being in total dark,
     experiencing the cold of a mountain stream, pondering on the age of rocks
     and fossilised creatures and viewing a sunset all have the potential to evoke
     awe and wonder. All offer the chance of understanding the self in relation to
     different parts of the world. If these young people had been taken ‘out’ of a
     city environment the changes and learning could have been immense.

     The open ended divergent offer of the experience described above is one
     where a sense of meaning and understanding on self can take place. Many
     people when asked about spiritual experiences talk of wonder and awe and
     many have found this through nature.

     Similarly, social justice issues have presented questions and queries in young
     people’s minds which have had to be processed – what is happening here and
     what is my role or relationship with it?

     Nigel Pimlott speaks of how spirituality and spiritual development are part
     of the work of the Frontier Youth Trust. There is more information about
     spiritual work in a secular setting as Appendix 7.



     I am also not advocating a necessarily complex approach. We can do some very
     simple things that provide really positive experiences. For example, if we are
     talking about ‘the light’ then why not use things like candles in a dark setting to
     illustrate the point in a hands on way. If we are talking about ‘sowing seeds’, then
     why not sow some and watch them grow. If we are talking about ‘serving’ then
     why not visit an old people’s home and engage in some conversation and games. I
     know this is really basic to some, but it is easy to forget the need to be experiential
     and practical in our approach.

     If the experiences can have a sense of mystery about them I consider this all
     the better in helping engage young people. Promoting ‘mystery’ means that
     the experience will help trigger responses that develop further exploration and



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           enquiry. This should ensure that it is not just experiences that we are offering to
           young people, but stepping stones to learning and discovery.
           Nigel Pimlott, Frontier Youth Trust



           A popular misconception about spiritual and faith development is that
           it encourages dependency – the following quotes from Indian spirituality
           challenge this perception.



           It is not a question of belief.
           Stop believing in that which is;
           This is the first stage. Dare to be rational.
           Dare to follow reason where it may take you.         Swami Vivekanda



           To grow is to go beyond what you are today.
           Stand up as yourself. Do not imitate.
           Do not pretend to have achieved your goal, and do not try to cut corners.
           Just try to grow. Swami Prajnanpad



           Never under any circumstances ask “how”.
           When you use the word “how” you really want someone to tell you what to do,
           some guide, some system, someone to lead you by the hand so that you lose your
           freedom, your capacity to observe, your own activities, your own thoughts your
           own way of life. Krishamurti



           The outward freedom that we shall attain will only be in exact proportion to the
           inward freedom to which we may have grown at any given moment.
           Mahatma Gandhi



           A real challenge for the sector is to understand how we can work with
           spirituality in a faith or secular context and to share this learning across the
           profession.



   5.2.    Role of faith communities in developing spirituality
           For many religions or faith traditions there is a keen responsibility to provide
           teaching, background and context about spiritual practice. This has the
           opportunity of giving young people a faith resource which they can use to
           frame their own spiritual experience and understanding. It also in some cases
           can discourage the young person from coming to their own understanding of
           their spiritual self. Some faiths do not view spirituality in an individual way



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SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K


            – it is seen as an integral part of community life and there is not the option of
            an individual rejecting faith as it means the rejection of the community.

            There is an interesting juxtaposition of where the community belonging
            meets the concept of individual freedom and rights. This paper is not going to
            be able to ‘solve’ this interesting and rich dynamic. It is, however, important
            that there is an active dialogue in the profession which throws light on the
            tensions that can be there for some young people. It is by understanding
            these that youth workers can help young people to enjoy belonging and
            developing their spirituality with their community, enjoy the benefits of
            individual options and choices and come to a positive understanding of what
            it best means for them.



     5.3.   What spiritual development means in a secular/statutory setting



            The human soul travels from the law to love,
            from discipline to freedom,
            from the moral plane to the spiritual plane. Rabindranath Tagore



            Many youth workers who are employed in a statutory or secular context can
            feel uncomfortable about the notion of spiritual development. The National
            Occupational Standard requires workers to understand their spiritual self,
            know the difference between spirituality, faith and religion and be able to
            facilitate a range of activities to enable young people to relate to the world in
            a spiritual way (from NOS Unit B2 Knowledge specification see Appendix 5).
            If a youth worker has not had the experience or opportunity to look at this
            aspect of themselves it can be a daunting prospect.

            The linking of Maslow’s characteristics of self actualisation with the wider
            understanding of spirituality gives a range of outcomes for which the broad
            youth work process is well equipped. It can be argued that spirituality is
            based on broad values which are coherent with those that underpin youth
            work method. If the work is based on values such as informal education,
            equality of opportunity, empowerment and participation and if the process
            of engagement is voluntary and through a relationship there is a coherence
            with the respect that is outlined in the ‘Golden Rule’ (see Appendix 2).
            This can give a starting point for the dialogue and work regarding spiritual
            development.

            It is also important that this element of youth work needs to be developed
            – by sharing good practice, through basic training and through academic and
            policy discussion. One reason why there is an apprehension about exploring
            spirituality and developing spiritual frameworks is a lack of basic knowledge.



24                                                                                    Consultation Paper
SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K


           There can also be an apprehension around working with different faiths
           and workers can be inhibited by their lack of knowledge and not wishing to
           offend. A lot of work undertaken recently looking at social cohesion indicates
           that communities grow closer when they have an understanding of each
           others’ faiths and religious practices. As social cohesion and community
           development is part of the broad aim of youth work making spirituality
           a more explicit element in the curriculum could bring about positive
           consequences for the community.


   5.4.    Spiritual process and learning outcomes
           There is a huge reluctance among some people to think of spiritual outcomes.
           Some people think that spirituality is hard enough to define so trying to pin
           down spiritual outcomes is a step too far. However, many faiths, especially
           in their monastic orders, will have measures of spiritual stages. For example,
           in Theravada Buddhism there is a well documented scheme of meditative
           development through meditative states which are called Jhanas. For each
           Jhana there are clearly formulated descriptions of the phenomena which are
           associated with the stage. For example, the third Jhana is associated with the
           experience of waves of joy which is called piti. In Christian mysticism people
           have also documented stages with accompanying states and phenomena.
           For example, Teresa of Avila documents each stage using the metaphor of
           an interior castle. These measures of spiritual development are used in the
           context of a culture and tradition of spiritual wisdom. The context is also
           developed in a framework of non-attachment where there is not the notion of
           evolutionary, linear progress and gathering and acquiring skills.

           Therefore if we choose to document spiritual development through outcomes
           we need to ensure a culture and context of wisdom which is apart from the
           progressive, acquiring model of education. As the underlying government
           message of education currently is individuals acquiring skills and knowledge
           for their personal use in work and to become citizens there is a potential
           conflict with the ‘non-progress’ world view which accompanies much spiritual
           learning.

           Having said all of this the level of spiritual development explored here is
           much deeper than most people will choose to follow. But it does highlight the
           dilemma of providing defined spiritual outcomes within a current educational
           framework of skill and knowledge acquisition. Indeed, it could be argued
           that because spirituality does operate in this other world view, or framework,
           engaging with spirituality can offer a real and profound opportunity for young
           people to experience the world in a different way.



   5.5.    Social justice, social action and spirituality
           The notion of participation in its widest sense is a keystone for youth work.



Consultation Paper                                                                             25
SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K


     Having a voice, challenging discrimination and disadvantage has always
     been part of the youth work agenda. For many people social justice emerges
     directly from their faith and their spiritual framework. Many faiths have
     strong expectations on how to treat others and are strong on inequality
     and injustice. If the youth worker encourages young people to reflect on
     their spiritual values they can also support them to express them in the
     community and support any social action which is based on these values.
     Much community cohesion work and reconciliation work encourages young
     people to reflect on their religious and other values and check these out
     with their actions. The reference earlier in the paper to the ‘Golden Rule’
     (Appendix 2) shows that respect and tolerance are found in the teachings of
     all faiths.

     Some religions have tenets that encourage positive behaviour in the
     community and the corporate use of these to develop a corporate spirituality
     can help a group of young people to have a good community spirit.

     Some denominations have strong expectations about how members should
     behave and values they should hold. These may concern charity, work with
     disadvantaged people, social justice and active campaigning. For example,
     to become a Quaker there is an expectation that you will follow the peace
     testimony. There is also a strong tradition of campaigning and non violent
     protest.



     Satisfy the hunger of others
     And your hunger will be appeased
     All by itself. His Holiness M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen


     Hear from the heart wordless mysteries!
     Understand what cannot be understood!
     In man’s stone-dark heart there burns a fire
     That burns all veils to their root and foundation.
     When the veils are burned away, the heart will understand completely ...
     Ancient Love will unfold ever-fresh forms
     In the heart of the Spirit, in the core of the heart. Rumi




26                                                                             Consultation Paper
SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K




6. Conclusions
   It is hard to think of how to conclude an exploration into the subject of spirituality
   and spiritual development in youth work. This is partly because of the divergent,
   holistic nature of the subject which resists categorisation and tidy solutions. It is
   also because individual youth workers have developed the spiritual dimension of
   their work bringing their own individual spirit to this work and to try and conflate
   these into a discipline feels in some way disrespectful. Having said this if the
   profession uses these sentiments to ‘back off ’ the subject of spirituality it will be in
   real danger of getting lost and being relegated behind other more easily quantifiable
   targets and aims.

   The conclusions from this paper will come from the consultation but will only
   come if there is a willingness to tread this somewhat difficult ground and be robust
   in argument and debate. The debate needs to be respectful and mindful of other’s
   interests and faith positions but it also needs to be undertaken in a spirit of rigour
   and vigour.



           8. If we don’t think Spirituality or Spiritual Development is important, or don’t like
              the concept, how else do we describe the humanisation dimension of the work
              and how can we express the self actualisation process?




Consultation Paper                                                                             27
SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K




Questions relating to the whole report
1. To what extent do you find the overall paper convincing? Where are its strengths and weak
   points?




2. Are there any serious omissions from the paper, in terms of important literature or
   arguments, ideas and positions that are unjustly neglected?




3. Are there any elements in the paper that could be further strengthened? Do you
   have additional evidence to support these? Are there significant nuances, angles or
   implications which have been neglected?




• Please photocopy, complete and return to The NYA.
  These proformas are also available on The NYA website at www.nya.org.uk




28                                                                                     Consultation Paper
SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K




4. In the light of your reactions to the earlier questions and to the body of the paper, what
   further questions need to be asked to stimulate this debate?




5. At this stage, what do you think are the main implications for future research, and for
   policy and practice?




6. Have you any suggestions as to how best to take this debate forward in the field so that it
   can best inform policy and practice?




• Please photocopy, complete and return to The NYA.
  These proformas are also available on The NYA website at www.nya.org.uk




Consultation Paper                                                                               29
SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K


Questions emerging from the paper to be addressed in
the consultation
1. Can we define Spirituality and Spiritual Development?




2. If yes, what are the definitions? If no, can we get working understandings to forward the
   debate?




3. Has Spirituality and Spiritual Development a place in the Youth Work Profession?




• Please photocopy, complete and return to The NYA.
  These proformas are also available on The NYA website at www.nya.org.uk




30                                                                                     Consultation Paper
SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K


4. If yes, what does this mean in terms of Policy and Practice?




5. What effect does it have in how we go about face to face youth work?




6. What do we have to put in place to integrate and develop this dimension in the youth work
   profession, for example, training?




• Please photocopy, complete and return to The NYA.
  These proformas are also available on The NYA website at www.nya.org.uk




Consultation Paper                                                                               31
SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K


7. How do we discuss, debate and forward these ideas in the widest possible context, for
   example, working with faith and religious communities?




8. If we don’t think Spirituality or Spiritual Development is important, or don’t like the
   concept, how else do we describe the humanisation dimension of the work and how can
   we express the self actualisation process?




9. What are the other questions that need to be asked emerging from this process?




• Please photocopy, complete and return to The NYA.
  These proformas are also available on The NYA website at www.nya.org.uk




32                                                                                     Consultation Paper
SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K


Appendix 1              Contribution of people with faith to
                        informal education and youth work

Lily Montagu (1873–1963), Pioneer of youth work. One of the founders of the National
Organisation of Girls Clubs (now Youth Clubs UK) and a key figure in the development of
Jewish youth work.

Lily Montagu (1873–1963), with Maud Stanley, is one of the key figures in the development
of girls clubs and work with young women. Her contribution was fourfold. First, she was
a committed worker with young people. As a young woman (19) in 1893 she set up the
club with her cousin in two rooms at 71 Dean Street W1 (the club was later to move to 8
Frith Street, then 8 Dean Street). The character of her work can be gauged from her own
comments: ‘A club worker must enter on her career in the learning spirit. She must not
attempt to foist her standards on the girls among whom she intends to work. She must study
their standards, and exchange her point of view with theirs’ (Montagu 1954: 24). She placed
an emphasis on sharing the government of the club with members; and on educational
endeavours. The latter included discussions around various moral questions and citizenship.
There was also a flourishing drama group. Second, Montagu placed a particular emphasis on
campaigning and working for the improvement of young women’s working conditions – and
this she carried into the political arena via organisations such as the Women’s Industrial
Council. Third, she was central to the formation and development of the National Organisation
of Girls Clubs. Last, she has left several important additions to the literature of youth work
– including the account of her work at West Central (Montagu 1904; 1954).
www.infed.org

Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), Asia’s first Nobel Laureate, was born into a prominent
Calcutta family known for its socio-religious and cultural innovations during the 19th Bengal
Renaissance.

I was brought up in an atmosphere of aspiration, aspiration for the expansion of the human
spirit. We in our home sought freedom of power in our language, freedom of imagination
in our literature, freedom of soul in our religious creeds and that of mind in our social
environment. Such an opportunity has given me confidence in the power of education which
is one with life and only which can give us real freedom, the highest that is claimed for man,
his freedom of moral communion in the human world . . . I try to assert in my words and works
that education has its only meaning and object in freedom – freedom from ignorance about
the laws of the universe, and freedom from passion and prejudice in our communication with
the human world. In my institution I have attempted to create an atmosphere of naturalness
in our relationship with strangers, and the spirit of hospitality which is the first virtue in men
that made civilization possible.

I invited thinkers and scholars from foreign lands to let our boys know how easy it is to realise
our common fellowship, when we deal with those who are great, and that it is the puny who
with their petty vanities set up barriers between man and man. (Rabindranath Tagore 1929:
73–74)



Consultation Paper                                                                             33
SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K


We have come to this world to accept it, not merely to know it. We may become powerful by
knowledge, but we attain fullness by sympathy. The highest education is that which does not
merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence. But we find that
this education of sympathy is not only systematically ignored in schools, but it is severely
repressed. From our very childhood habits are formed and knowledge is imparted in such
a manner that our life is weaned away from nature and our mind and the world are set in
opposition from the beginning of our days. Thus the greatest of educations for which we came
prepared is neglected, and we are made to lose our world to find a bagful of information
instead. We rob the child of his earth to teach him geography, of language to teach him
grammar. His hunger is for the Epic, but he is supplied with chronicles of facts and dates ...
Child-nature protests against such calamity with all its power of suffering, subdued at last into
silence by punishment. (Rabindranath Tagore, Personality, 1917: 116-17) www.infed.org

Hannah More (1745–1833). The significance of Hannah and Martha More’s activities with
regard to Sunday schooling lay in the pedagogy they developed; the range of activities they
became involved in; and the extent to which publicity concerning their activities encouraged
others to develop initiatives. Hannah and Martha More attempted to make school sessions
entertaining and varied. We can see this from the outline of her methods published in Hints
on how to run a Sunday School (and reported in Roberts 1834). Programmes had to be
planned and suited to the level of the students; there needed to be variety; and classes had
to be as entertaining as possible (she advised using singing when energy and attention was
waning). She also argued that it was possible to get the best out of children if their affections
‘were engaged by kindness’. Furthermore, she made the case that terror did not pay (Young
and Ashton 1956: 239). However, she still believed it was a ‘fundamental error to consider
children as innocent beings’ rather than as beings of ‘a corrupt nature and evil dispositions’
(More 1799: 44, quoted by Thompson 1968: 441).

Hannah More could be said to have summed up the prevailing Evangelical attitude when she
wrote: ‘Action is the life of virtue, and the world is the theatre of action’ (More 1808, quoted
by Bebbington 1989: 12).

Other women like Ellen Ranyard and Maude Stanley were to follow in her footsteps – but
just what are we to make of Hannah More’s contribution to the development of different
forms of informal education – especially youth work?

First, it can be argued that she worked with young people – but significantly they were only
one part of the clientele she was concerned with. Hannah More was also interested in the
education of children and adults – and both her writing and her activities in Sunday schooling
reflect this. To this extent, she can be understood as a theorist and practitioner of lifelong
education and learning. Second, she and her sister worked with people on the basis of
choice. While there were all sorts of incentives to children and young people, for example, to
attend Sunday schooling, Hannah More recognised that they could not be compelled to take
part.

Third, relative to the schooling activities of her day, Sunday schools associated with the More
sisters had a more informal air, and used a range of methods. There was more of a concern



34                                                                                   Consultation Paper
SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K


with creating the right atmosphere and relationship for learning. Besides classes there were
other community and welfare interventions plus some concern with social life (and this was to
be a feature of later Sunday school developments). This said, the work that Hannah More was
engaged in was some distance from what we later came to know as youth work. In particular,
hers is an individualistic orientation. There is little recognition here of the significance of
association, group and club – and her understanding of education is very firmly conditioned
by her desire to convert.

George Williams and the YMCA. During June and early July 1844 a series of discussions
took place in rooms above Hitchcock and Roger’s drapers shop in St Paul’s Churchyard.
George Williams, Christopher Smith, Edward Valentine, John Symons, and the eight,
nine or ten other young men involved, discussed setting up what quickly became known as
The Young Men’s Christian Association. (The debate over the number of young men involved
in the original meeting where the Association was formed is reviewed by Binfield 1973: 120–
121. The discussion concerning title can be found in Shedd et al 1955: 23). They set out with
‘the view of uniting and directing the efforts of Christian young men for the spiritual welfare of
their fellows in the various departments of commercial life’ (YMCA 1857: frontpiece). In other
words, they began by looking to the needs of people like themselves – a form of mutual aid.
As the Movement grew, those involved were quick to amend rules and activities in response
to the needs they identified. For example, by 1848 the object of the Association was not just
‘spiritual’ but also ‘mental’ improvement; and the concern was with young men in general.




Appendix 2              The Golden Rule

Baha’I faith
   Lay not on any soul a load which ye would not wish to be laid upon you, and desire not for
   anyone the things ye would not desire for yourselves. This is my best counsel unto you,
   did ye but observe it Bah’u’allah: Gleanings, 128

Buddhism
   Just as a mother would protect her only child with her life, even so let one cultivate a
   boundless love towards all beings. Khuddaka Patha: Metta Sutta

Christianity
   Do unto others as you would have them do to you.          Luke 6:31

Hinduism
   This is the sum of duty; do naught to others if done to thee would cause thee pain.
   Mahabharata 5.1517

Islam
    No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for
    himself. An-Nawawi’s Forty Hadith 13



Consultation Paper                                                                             35
NYA Spirituality and Spiritual Development in Youth Work
NYA Spirituality and Spiritual Development in Youth Work
NYA Spirituality and Spiritual Development in Youth Work
NYA Spirituality and Spiritual Development in Youth Work
NYA Spirituality and Spiritual Development in Youth Work
NYA Spirituality and Spiritual Development in Youth Work
NYA Spirituality and Spiritual Development in Youth Work
NYA Spirituality and Spiritual Development in Youth Work
NYA Spirituality and Spiritual Development in Youth Work
NYA Spirituality and Spiritual Development in Youth Work
NYA Spirituality and Spiritual Development in Youth Work

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NYA Spirituality and Spiritual Development in Youth Work

  • 1. Spirituality and Spiritual Development in Youth Work A consultation paper from The National Youth Agency
  • 3. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K This consultation document has been commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills and prepared by The National Youth Agency. The NYA is grateful to the DfES for its ongoing support of its work. Any views expressed are not necessarily those of the DfES or individuals working within it. Published by Eastgate House, 19–23 Humberstone Road, Leicester LE5 3GJ. Tel: 0116 242 7350. Fax: 0116 242 7444. E-mail: nya@nya.org.uk Website: www.nya.org.uk ii Consultation Paper
  • 4. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K Contents Letter from Bishop Roger Sainsbury, Chair of The NYA v Questions relating to the whole report vi 1 The historical and faith context to the subject 1 2 What is spirituality? 4 3 What is spiritual development? 11 4 What is the role of spirituality and spiritual development in youth work? 15 Historical continuity 15 National Occupational Standards 16 Young people’s developmental stage 17 The role of youth worker 18 The ‘subversive’/enriching role of spirituality in youth work 19 Preparing young people to be canny about spiritual matters 20 Broad observations on the above threads 20 5 Key areas for the field arising from this debate 21 How to provide opportunities for young people to explore their spirituality 21 Role of faith communities in developing spirituality 23 What spiritual development means in a secular/statutory setting 24 Spiritual process and learning outcomes 25 Social justice, social action and spirituality 25 6 Conclusions 27 6 Questions relating to the whole report (Response paper) 28 6 Questions emerging from the paper to be addressed in the consultation 30 Appendix 1 Contribution of people with faith to informal education and youth work 33 Appendix 2 The Golden Rule 35 Appendix 3 Faith / spiritual development theories 36 Appendix 4 Spectrum model 40 Appendix 5 National Occupational Standards 41 Appendix 6 Newton’s developmental stages 42 Appendix 7 FYT’s ways of working with spirituality 43 Bibliography 45 Consultation Paper iii
  • 5. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K Acknowledgments I am extremely grateful to all the people who have had conversations with me about spirituality and spiritual development and have in this way made contributions to this consultation paper. I have been very enriched by these discussions and by the importance people have given this subject and hope that I have interpreted people’s thoughts fairly. I am also aware that this is an ambitious project and that this first paper is bound to be partial and fall short. I sincerely hope that people will come forward with new ideas and information so that this subject is treated with the respect and weight that it deserves. At the heart of this paper are formal questions for response – ideally to be received by 31 July 2005. Responses should be sent to Maxine Green, c/o The National Youth Agency. E-mail, for the attention of Maxine Green, to mariet@nya.org.uk or send to The National Youth Agency, Eastgate House, 19–23 Humberstone Road, Leicester LE5 3GJ. In particular I would like to thank the Frontier Youth Trust and Nigel Pimlott for allowing me to use extracts from the forthcoming publication Inspire Too (Scripture Union © 2005*) and The Religious Society of Friends for their comprehensive work on spiritual development. Also, Trudi Newton, Chandu Christian, Tim Clapton, The Inter Faith Network for the United Kingdon for permission to use the extract from Connect and The Infed network (www.infed.org), Valdosta State University (http://chiron. valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/regsys/maslow.html), Spectrum and Youth and Policy. Maxine Green February 2005 * May not be reproduced without permission in writing from the author and Frontier Youth Trust. iv Consultation Paper
  • 6. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K Letter from Bishop Roger Sainsbury, Chair of The NYA Dear Colleague I would like to invite you to be part of a consultation on the subject of Spirituality and Spiritual Development in Youth Work. This document is a consultation paper to collect thoughts and ideas from the youth work field to help form a collective understanding about spirituality and spiritual development in youth work. The consultation paper was commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills from The National Youth Agency. The commissioning of this paper follows several meetings which included people in the field to extend our thinking on spirituality and spiritual development in the changing context of young people’s lives. The paper was drafted by Maxine Green. Spiritual development is one of the key aims of modern youth work and is part of the National Occupational Standards. Hence it is important to know what the concept now represents and how the youth work profession should respond to this area of work. This paper has been written with a view to capturing the key areas where spirituality and spiritual development connect and are part of youth work. Views are being sought from the field during Spring and Summer 2005 and feedback from this consultation will inform a paper to be written later in 2005. The aim of the final paper will be to clarify the present place of spirituality and spiritual development in youth work and to inform professional reflection, policy and practice. Feedback, comments and views are requested in two areas. Firstly, with a view to the whole document, to check any significant omissions and inaccuracies and any areas of the subject which need further explanation or clarification. Questions to prompt responses follow this letter and are included in the response section at the end of the document. Secondly, on the specific issues which are raised in the debate. Questions on these issues are distributed through the text with a proforma for responses at the end of the document. Yours sincerely Consultation Paper v
  • 7. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K Questions relating to the whole report 1. To what extent do you find the overall paper convincing? Where are its strengths and weak points? 2. Are there any serious omissions from the paper, in terms of important literature or arguments, ideas and positions that are unjustly neglected? 3. Are there any elements in the paper that could be further strengthened? Do you have additional evidence to support these? Are there significant nuances, angles or implications which have been neglected? 4. In the light of your reactions to the earlier questions and to the body of the paper, what further questions need to be asked to stimulate this debate? 5. At this stage, what do you think are the main implications for future research, and for policy and practice? 6. Have you any suggestions how best to take this debate forward in the field so that it can best inform policy and practice? vi Consultation Paper
  • 8. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K 1. The historical and faith context to the subject 1.1. Youth work from its inception has had a strong focus on values and these values have often been presented in a spiritual or religious framework. As Young says: Youth work is and always has been concerned with the development of young people’s values. From its beginning, commitments to ‘the improvement of the spiritual and mental condition of young men’ (YMCA 1844 Statement of Purpose, in YMCA 1987:4), the development of ‘the whole personality of individual boys and girls’ (HMSO 1940: para. 2) and the desire for young people to ‘better equip themselves to live the life of mature, creative and responsible members of a free society’ (Maud 1951:3), all expressed aspirations which were centrally concerned not with the activities in which young people participated but with the values they held and the ‘kind of people’ they were to become. Ethical Issues in Youth Work ed S. Banks ‘Youth worker as guide, philosopher and friend’ K. Young: Routledge 1999 1.2. This was further developed by the McNair committee as Young says: In 1944 the McNair Committee commented on the need for youth workers to act as ‘guides, philosophers and friends’ (HMSO 1944: 103) to young people. The contention here is that youth workers should provide a steer for young people through the philosophical enquiry into the nature, significance and interrelationship of their values and beliefs, based on a relationship or true friendship – wanting for someone what one thinks good for his or her sake and not for one’s own (Aristotle). Ethical Issues in Youth Work ed S. Banks ‘Youth worker as guide, philosopher and friend’ K. Young: Routledge 1999 1.3. Lord Redcliffe-Maud, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, in 1951 defined the aim of youth services as: To offer individual young people in their leisure time, opportunities of various kinds, complementary to those at home, formal education and work, to discover and develop their personal resources of body in mind and spirit and thus better equip themselves to live the life of mature creative and responsible members of the Free Society. (HMSO 1951). This particularly included the spirit as a focus of youth work and this vision of the work is continued in the Albemarle Report, as Young says: Consultation Paper 1
  • 9. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K In 1960, the Albemarle Report declared that the youth service was responsible for helping young people develop ‘a sense of fellowship’, ‘the capacity to make sound judgements’ and ‘mutual respect and tolerance’ (HMSO 1960: 37). Ethical Issues in Youth Work ed S. Banks ‘Youth worker as guide, philosopher and friend’. K. Young: Routledge 1999 In 1998 David Blunkett in The Learning Age restated how learning develops a spiritual side of our lives. As well as securing our economic future, learning has a wider contribution. It helps make ours a civilized society, develops a spiritual side of our lives and promotes active citizenship. Learning enables people to play a full part in their community. It strengthens the family, the neighbourhood and consequently the nation. This developmental, community based value has been central in youth work development and spiritual development has been a given part of part of this holistic value driven approach. By education I mean an all-round drawing out of the best in a child and man – body, mind and spirit. Mahatma Gandhi 1.4. Youth work has subsequently developed from this value informed approach. In the voluntary sector this has built on the work of early faith pioneers. In the statutory sector the value shaping of early work has continued to underpin youth work process. 1.5. The spiritual framework of youth work draws heavily on the pioneering work of early social and educational reformers from faith communities. In Victorian and pre-Victorian times the spirit of reform drew individuals into setting up social enterprises for communities, many of these centres were concerned with young people. 1.6. A selection of examples of early ‘youth workers’ is found in Appendix 1 which has been copied from the www.infed.org website. Further biographies and commentaries can be viewed on the site which show that although many early informal educators in the United Kingdom were Christians, Jews, Hindus, Muslims and other faiths contributed to the early work. 1.7. These early pioneers were drawing on their faiths and philosophical beliefs 2 Consultation Paper
  • 10. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K and often saw the principle aim of the work in terms of spiritual change. George Williams and the YMCA movement. They set out with ‘the view of uniting and directing the efforts of Christian young men for the spiritual welfare of their fellows in the various departments of commercial life’ (YMCA 1857: front piece). In other words, they began by looking to the needs of people like themselves – a form of mutual aid. As the Movement grew, those involved were quick to amend rules and activities in response to the needs they identified. For example, by 1848 the object of the Association was not just ‘spiritual’ but also ‘mental’ improvement; and the concern was with young men in general. From www.infed.org 1.8. Current work being undertaken by faith communities Youth work in the faith sector has dramatically increased in the last ten to fifteen years. This has been an increase both in the number of professionally qualified workers working in this sector, and the professionalisation of the work. For example, in Christian youth work young people are much more likely to experience informal education rather than be taught or entertained. In many Church of England dioceses the number of full time youth workers exceeds the number of statutory youth workers. Other faiths are also showing a keen interest in continuing to develop their work with young people. In addition faith communities work in social action projects which focus on young people. This builds up to a significant body of work being undertaken by professional youth workers who have an explicit spiritual context to their work. 1.9. It is increasingly important as this field is extensive, and possibly expanding, that there is a professional confidence in how spirituality and faith ‘sit’ within the wider youth work agenda and practice. For many years the lack of knowledge in the profession about religious practices has meant that there has been a reluctance to ‘interfere’. Under the umbrella of equal opportunities differences were ‘respected’ without being really explored. In an effort to be inclusive there was a reluctance to challenge work in a faith context. This is especially true in work within the Islamic community where the appropriate sensitivity to the minority position sometimes means that dialogue is limited to safe, non-controversial areas. For a greater understanding and awareness in our communities it is essential that concepts such as spirituality, faith and religion are fully open to sensitive and informed debate. 1.10. Wider context in which work is being done – social cohesion Consultation Paper 3
  • 11. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K The role of faith communities and spirituality is being explored by projects as a way of building social cohesion. Work done in an interfaith context can encourage understanding and demonstrate to young people in their communities that all the great faiths have at their centre something termed ‘the golden rule’. This entreats – in the words of each particular faith – followers of religions to be respectful of others. See appendix 2 for the golden rule. It is pertinent to view social change in terms of values and how these affect behaviour rather than simply address aggressive or protective actions in the community. A common language based on respecting the spirit of each other and in each other would be a powerful tool for reconciliation and positive community living. 2. What is spirituality? 2.1. There is a real problem in trying to ‘define’ what spirituality is. For some, there is a natural affinity and the word encourages them to rush towards the concept with a feeling of ownership. For others the word carries so much baggage and ill feeling they despise it and want nothing to do with it. I have a friend who is a nun. She told me once that when she went into a supermarket wearing her habit people had two reactions. One group would go towards her and seek her out. The other group would move to a different aisle, possibly embarrassed. I think spirituality is a lot like this. 2.2. As well as invoking feelings the term itself is a slippery concept. As spirituality cannot be held, tasted, heard but relates to an interior perspective it is difficult to keep it still and coherent in order to ascribe qualities to it. 2.3. Additionally, spirituality can be intensely personal and unique so people invest a lot of energy in what it means to them. It is therefore hard to have a disinterested debate in the subject and essential when this is being discussed that people are in a position where there is mutual respect and an understanding and acceptance that spirituality can mean different things. 2.4. Having said this about spirituality one young woman interviewed had no understanding at all of the concept and although academically bright found it hard to relate at all to what this could mean in her own life. 4 Consultation Paper
  • 12. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K 2.5. Research by Clapton into ‘The religious experience and faith development of non-church going young people’ (1993) compared church going young people with those who did not go to church. The research concluded that spiritual experiences were by no means limited to church going young people. A clear picture has emerged showing the spiritual awareness of nonchurch young people. They are active in making sense of themselves, the world and the existential questions which they encounter. They are recipients of the most profound religious experiences, comparable with any reported by the church attenders. Finally, they make sense of their lives through a faith which is constructed by centres of value and power, creating an ‘ultimate environment’. Timothy Clapton ‘The religious experience and faith development of non-church going young people’, (1993), Research thesis. 2.6. Nigel Pimlott of Frontier Youth Trust has been working with the concept of spirituality and social cohesion. He writes: As I have the privilege of travelling up and down the country leading workshops on this subject, I have taken the opportunity of inviting workshop participants to come up with their own words and definitions of what is meant by ‘spirituality’ and ‘spiritual development’. These are set out below for consideration as possible definitions. Words associated with spirituality: blend non-material breath openness beyond ourselves beauty awareness of others divine diverse new/different experience human incomplete exploration fear journey a void uncertainty God/Jesus mystical process personal/collect abstract your God goes with you wholeness mediums mystery transient no absolutes the unknown taboo hope inwardly turned uncontrollable experience everything conscious catharsis non-physical/biological spirit peace reality feeling/emotion no God ritual enrichment transcendence communion with God heart depth connection with beyond a way of relating community searching for something bonding with something Continued over page Consultation Paper 5
  • 13. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K new age indefinable mantra arts quiet time/meditation prayer connectedness dangerous searching choices confusing fulfilment The very essence of the Hindu Philosophy is that man has a spirit, and has a body and not that man is a body and may have a spirit also. Swami Vivekananda 2.7. Zaehener (1997) suggests that there are four types of spirituality within and between religions: Four types of spirituality:  Loving union with a personal God;  A sense of oneness with the Absolute and the world;  A sense of being separate from the world; and  Becoming one with one’s real self. Zaehener R.C. (1997), The Hutchinson Encyclopaedia of Living Faiths, London: Hutchinson 2.8. The attempt at defining spirituality is in tune with this research into the subject. There is a divergent quality to the concept with many people seeing different end points and goals. One group working on the concept became quite heated when the researcher tried to ‘pin’ spirituality down and saw the very act of definition as defeating the endeavour of the word. 2.9. There were consistent images of spirituality which have emerged both through reading and through meetings with people. These are that spirituality:  Is about the ‘other’ – either the other in terms of a God or a transcendent being – or ‘other’ in terms of being different to the more mundane areas of life.  Is not something separate from life but flows through life almost as a different but essential dimension.  Is being squeezed out of people’s experience because of the present cultural expectation of achieving fulfillment through having rather than being.  Is connected with crises and peak experiences in one’s life.  Is something to do with relationship and connection – both with people and in community, and with the environment and the world.  Is an internal sense of meaning and story – a deep understanding of ‘who I am and my place here’. 6 Consultation Paper
  • 14. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K  Is not necessarily ‘cosy and warm’ but can be awesome and unsettling.  Is about being ‘fully human’ integrating and balancing different aspects of the self to live to one’s deepest potential.  Is about an inner ‘truth’ and deep self knowledge. Be obedient to your truth Religious Society of Friends Then what is the motive which keeps us busy in the Sufi Order, what is our object in taking this path of initiation? Our object in this is to become human, to find the way how to become human, how to live a human being’s life to its fullness, how to live a life of love, harmony and beauty. Inayat Khan Truth resides in the heart of every man. And it is there that he must seek it, in order to be guided by it so that, at the least it will appear to him. But we do not have the right to force others to see the Truth in our way. Mahatma Gandhi A human being is part of a whole, called by us the ‘Universe,’ a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Albert Einstein about spirituality . . . (Some people) . . . have suggested that we are talking about an awareness that there is more to life than meets the eye, an understanding that life is full of things that inspire awe and wonder, a rationale that incorporates paradoxes, the unexplained, and mysteries. Yet others have reflected upon the sense that life is a complex journey weaved by understanding and grappling with the issues relating to understanding ourselves and others, the environment that we live in and the un-quantifiable ‘out there’ subjects of god, the non material and the transcendent. Nigel Pimlott Frontier Youth Trust 2.10. A point raised by many was that spirituality could not be domesticated. That there is a level of meaning within spirituality that is immense and confounds restricting the concept into neat compartments. This was seen as a really positive influence in the world in that spirituality has the potential of introducing creative possibilities to breathe life into sometimes sterile order. Consultation Paper 7
  • 15. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K Dualism Many cultures use a dualist framework to construct their world and to build a common sense of meaning. Items and words have their opposites and sit with each other to bring about a balanced world, where the qualities of one of the items reflects and limits the qualities of the other. Dark Light Male Female Sun Moon Hot Cold Body Spirit High Low Love Hate Rich Poor Sick Well Order Chaos This dualism is central to Chinese cosmology and is seen in the Yin and Yang symbols – where Yin and Yang symbolise the sun and the moon. There are two opposing forces active in the universe. Yin exists in Yang and Yang exists in Yin. This is the changing combination of negative and positive, dark and light, cold and hot which keeps the world spinning and creates Chi – the life giving force. Even where a culture has not got a specific mythology or ideology, dualism can help frame thinking. It is necessary that this be the aim of our entire life. In all our thoughts and actions, we must be conscious of the infinite. Rabindranath Tagore All this talk and turmoil and noise and movement is outside the veil; inside the veil is silence and calm and peace. Bayezid Bistami 2.11. One could argue that the role of ‘spirituality’ in youth work is to provide a sense of balance – to give the profession a divergent, exploratory aspect to balance the more convergent particular outcomes and targets. This is explored later in the paper. 2.12. In thinking about spirituality many people cited Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In its original form there were five ‘needs’ that had to be attended to ‘in order’ – with the most basic needs being satisfied first. For example, if a person has basic biological and physiological needs they will seek to satisfy these before their need to belong. Maslow described the first four levels as deficiency motivators and the fifth level as growth motivator. He also said that aims and drives were focused on the next higher order needs. 8 Consultation Paper
  • 16. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K Maslow’s five level Hierarchy of needs model (1954) 1. Biological and Physiological needs – air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc. 2. Safety needs – protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc. 3. Belongingness and Love needs – work group, family, affection, relationships, etc. 4. Esteem needs – self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc. 5. Cognitive needs – search for knowledge, understanding, meaning etc. People spoke of the ‘self-actualisation’ need as where spirituality might ‘sit’ and how this is part of the education of the whole person. It is interesting that in further developments of this model in the 1970s another three categories have been added, namely: 6. Aesthetic needs – appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc. 7. Self-Actualisation needs – realising personal potential, self-fulfilment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences. 8. Transcendence needs – helping others to achieve self-actualisation. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Tran- scendence Self- Actualisation Aesthetic Needs Cognitive Needs Esteem Needs Belongingness & Love Needs Safety Needs Physiological Needs From http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/regsys/maslow.html Consultation Paper 9
  • 17. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K To reach cosmic understanding, it is necessary to unite our feeling with that infinite feeling that penetrates everything. In fact, for man, true progress coincides with the breadth of the base of our feelings. All our poetry, philosophy, science, art and religion serve to embrace with our understanding the spheres too vast and high. Rabindranath Tagore Although Maslow’s model has been the subject of great discussion on how it can be used in education the overall understanding of meeting basic needs and working developmentally with young people to reach the highest aims is very much part of youth work philosophy. Alan Chapman on his website www.businessballs.com lists self-actualising characteristics that share many of the words and descriptions from Nigel Pimlott’s list above. Maslow’s Self-Actualising characteristics  keen sense of reality – aware of real situations – objective judgment, rather than subjective;  see problems in terms of challenges and situations requiring solutions, rather than see problems as personal complaints or excuses;  need for privacy and comfortable being alone;  reliant on own experiences and judgment – independent – not reliant on culture and environment to form opinions and views;  not susceptible to social pressures – non-conformist;  democratic, fair and non-discriminating – embracing and enjoying all cultures, races and individual styles;  socially compassionate – possessing humanity;  accepting others as they are and not trying to change people;  comfortable with oneself – despite any unconventional tendencies. A few close intimate friends rather than many surface relationships;  sense of humour directed at oneself or the human condition, rather than at the expense of others;  spontaneous and natural – true to oneself, rather than being how others want � excited and interested in everything, even ordinary things;  creative, inventive and original; and  seek peak experiences that leave a lasting impression. Man is setting out to satisfy needs that mean more to him than simply nourishment and clothing. He is embarking on a rediscovery of himself. The history of man is that his voyage toward the unknown, in the search for the realisation of his immortal Self, of his soul. Rabindranath Tagore You yourself are your own obstacle – rise above yourself. Hafiz 10 Consultation Paper
  • 18. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K 2.13. John Hull in Youth and Policy Autumn 1999 speaks of the quality of the spirit and argues that the spiritual is not a part to be added and is not a part of the whole but is a dimension. The spiritual dimension can no more be taken away than the third dimension can be taken away from an object. The same is true of the spiritual. When we speak of the spirit of a sporting team, we refer to some quality of the behaviour and attitudes of the team as a whole, and the same is true of the ‘spirit of the nation’, ‘the spirit of war’ and so on. In such expressions we do not refer to a part of the whole, but to some energising and invigorating quality of the whole. John Hull, Youth and Policy, Autumn 1999 2.14. There is also a key question about how and where spirituality ‘fits’ with the concept of faith and religion. John Hull in Youth and Policy Autumn 1999 explored the inter-relatedness of the three concepts and concluded that the concepts of faith and religion are subsumed in the concept of spirituality. He says: . . . to the question of faith. Religion and spirituality are not attitudes. Spirituality . . . is the achievement of humanness, and the religions are the traditions and techniques for achieving this in relation to the transcendent Ultimate. Faith, however, has to do with subjectivity. It is the positive human response to the issues raised by spirituality. John Hull, Youth and Policy, Autumn 1999 2.15. It is has been virtually impossible to come up with an absolute, clean definition of spirituality which can be used in every circumstance. However, it is also apparent that ‘spirituality’ can have a place as a very useful shorthand to refer to this particular dimension which is an essential part of our true humanity. 3. What is spiritual development? 3.1. There are countless religious sayings and thoughts which point to spiritual growth and development: Religion is a realisation, not talk, not doctrines, nor theories, however beautiful all these may be. Religion is being and becoming, not hearing and acknowledging. It is not an intellectual assent but the transformation of one’s whole life. Swami Viveknanda Consultation Paper 11
  • 19. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K When I open my heart I find Truth and Discretion in all things. Mechtild of Magdeburg When a man Battles with his soul, The life and the soul of the whole world enter And he is free Rabindranath Tagore Believe nothing that binds you to the sole authority of your masters or priests. That which you have tried yourself, which you have experienced, which you have recognised as true, and which will be beneficial to you and to others; believe that, and shape your conduct to it. Buddha 3.2. Following on from John Hull’s theory above spiritual development could be thought of as a process of humanisation. Since the spiritual is, broadly speaking, concerned with the achievement of personhood, it may be thought of as synonymous with the process of humanisation. . . . becoming human is a process, the result of which is an achievement, and therefore we may speak of the process of humanisation as being our ontological vocation (Freire 1972;1985). This process may be called spiritualisation, since there is no achievement of humanness without a realisation of the human spirit. John Hull, Youth and Policy, Autumn 1999 3.3. Nigel Pimlott in his work around the country asking people to come up with ideas about spiritual development got the following responses: Spiritual Development is about:  a journey of discovery;  a journey/point/process of discovering that there is something more than self;  existing outside of faith;  is it born in all of us?;  a journey towards wholeness;  a deepening understanding of all things not material;  understanding which cannot be explained;  awareness of self, others, environment and God;  the long path;  growth in and application of faith; 12 Consultation Paper
  • 20. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K  growing into wholeness;  the natural process that results from spiritual awareness;  people growing in faith and belief;  having a growing awareness of self and life and the meaning of life. It’s about moving towards an integrity of personhood;  if spirituality is the search for meaning and value, then spiritual development is how those searches and quests develop;  spiritual Development has a link with morality – knowing right and wrong. It has a link with an awareness of self and others;  spirituality is being ‘human’ it is everlasting and in oneself and in others as you meet them; or  spirituality is a process of searching within for the truth without. 3.4. Ofsted has also presented an outline definition of spiritual development for work in schools: ‘Spiritual development relates to that aspect of inner life through which pupils acquire insights into their personal existence which are of enduring worth. It is characterised by reflection, the attribution of meaning to experience, valuing a non-material dimension to life and intimations of an enduring reality. ‘Spiritual’ is not synonymous with ‘religious’; all areas of the curriculum may contribute to pupils’ spiritual development.’ Ofsted Handbook for the Inspection of Schools 1994 3.5. The same difficulty in trying to find a definition is apparent in the search for an understanding of spiritual development. Nigel Pimlott of FYT writes: Spiritual development is not something we can make for others. It is a journey that each individual has to take. The journey cannot be made easier by taking short cuts and everyone has their own starting point and their own final destination. It is a journey that can be shared with others and it involves challenging ourselves and the young people we work with. It involves new experiences and doesn’t impose ideas and faith onto others. From Nigel Pimlott FYT 3.6. Some people would also argue that spiritual development is not about achieving any particular end, rather that it is the process of increased awareness and understanding that enables a continual sense of becoming. Many religious teachings use the journey as a metaphor of continuous personal growth, rather than a description of how to get to a particular destination. This emphasis on process is very familiar to youth work method. Consultation Paper 13
  • 21. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K We want to deepen our awareness of that which is deepest in us, which responds to other people and the world around us, which gives us direction and life. Such openness and awareness has to be nurtured and encouraged. It is vital for all spiritual learning that there are opportunities for reflection, sharing, discussion and response. In a Quaker context this means we try to interpret our inward experiences in worship, listen together to discern what we must do and put our beliefs into action together. Children and Young People’s Report, Britain Yearly Meeting 2004, Religious Society of Friends. 3.7. Spiritual development in some faiths is seen as being through religious practice and is expressed in religious terms. This means that some people are not used to expressing spirituality as a free standing concept as it is so closely linked into the religious framework. In limited conversations with Muslims this seemed to be a perception which was held. 3.8. Different cultures and faiths have key concepts which relate to spirituality, particularly in the youth work context. Chandu Christian writing in Youth and Policy Autumn 1999 writes: Youth work has yet to absorb and use the multi-faith or multicultural concepts that are now available to it. For example, the concepts of Guru-Shishya as relationship, Islam as submission, the Tao as the way, Zen as a method of self-actualisation without complicated rituals, the Shabad (Word) as a revelation – these and many other concepts are now part of our multi-cultural legacy. Youth work can apply them for both personal and spiritual development of young people as well as to create a tolerant and understanding society. Chandu Christian – Spirituality in the context to multi-cultural youth work in Youth and Policy, Autumn 1999 3.9. There are some theologians who have produced theories of faith development. Most notable in the Christian tradition are Fowler and Westerhof – see appendix 3 for further information. The Quakers have used these theories and combined them with the work of John Lee, a former Diocesan Youth Officer for the Church of England, to come up with a matrix for spiritual development. See appendix 3 for further information. The ecumenical training resource for youth workers, Spectrum, has also developed a spiritual quest model, see appendix 4. 3.10. The idea of spiritual development is one which is linked to the idea of ‘becoming’ and can be viewed either as a free standing concept or as a concept that is deeply embedded and integrated within a religious framework. 14 Consultation Paper
  • 22. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K If spirituality is a dimension of experience as is argued above, then spiritual development has the potential of occurring from all experience. Obviously some experiences will be more fruitful than others in enabling a young person to deepen their understanding and awareness. As in other development models learning is enhanced when the young person ‘notices’ or registers the experience. This indicates two ways in which the youth worker can aid the spiritual development process. The first is by giving opportunities and experiences which are spiritually rich, the second is to facilitate the young person’s reflection on their spiritual learning. 1. Can we define Spirituality and Spiritual Development? 2. If yes, what are the definitions? If no, can we get working understandings to forward the debate? 4. What is the role of spirituality and spiritual development in youth work? The purpose of youth work is to ensure that young people have a good death. Good youth work process gives young people tools to reach their full potential so that when they die, in old age, they can look back on a life of achievement and feel deep contentment. Maxine Green In this section several key threads which contribute to the debate are explored. In the conclusion there are some broad observations relating to these key threads. We need to restore the place of spirituality in the public as well as the private world, relating it to truth as well as to personal experience. It should be understood as the essential source of character development for a society based on sacrificial love. Youth A Part, 1996, Church House Publishing p31 4.1. Historical continuity In many of the significant times when youth work has been called to describe itself the value based nature of the profession has been reiterated. The values of equality, empowerment, education and participation emerge from a philosophy of the profession which is about the whole nature of the young person. Even where reports have not been explicit about this there is Consultation Paper 15
  • 23. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K an implicit understanding that youth work is holistic. It is not just about increasing skills, changing behaviour or imparting knowledge, it is about development of the whole of the young person. In the early shaping of the profession this was spelled out as the development of body, mind and spirit. At different times in the history of youth work one or another element was in the ascendancy. For example, some early youth work was very much focused on the spirit. Later with the rise of outdoor education as a youth work tool the development of the body was seen to be the key. In the last five or ten years the emphasis has moved to accrediting specific skills and in some cases the wider aims of youth work and informal education have been taken over by the need to achieve particular targets. The youth work profession is able to put a strong case forward about how achievements are stronger and more sustained if they are gained from an integrated whole person approach. However, where funding streams encourage this targeted work it becomes even more important that the holistic approach is upheld. As spirituality and spiritual development is part of the whole youth work offer, maintaining an understanding of how and where this occurs in youth work is one way of ensuring the holistic approach continues. 4.2. National Occupational Standards Spiritual development is part of National Occupational Standards. It could be argued that many of the standards which are looking at overall growth and development of young people include an element relating to spirituality. The key purpose of youth work in the National Occupational Standards gives an indication of the whole person approach. The key purpose of youth work is to work with young people to facilitate their personal, social, and educational development, and enable them to gain a voice, influence and place in society in a period of their transition from dependence to independence. While spiritual development is not mentioned specifically in the Key Purpose it is an integral part of personal and social development. As the overall purpose is divided into sections the role of spirituality can be traced within the standards. For example Section A states; ‘Build relationships with young people which enable them to explore and make sense of their experiences and plan and take action’. For young people who have a spiritual life this would necessarily be part of their exploration, their experience and would feature in how they make future plans. Some would argue that this spiritual aspect is also there for young people without a particular spiritual framework and that it features as a spiritual dimension to their lives and experience even if it is not named and specifically acknowledged. 16 Consultation Paper
  • 24. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K The National Occupational Standards have a unit with a particular focus on spirituality. Section B is to ‘Facilitate young people’s learning and their personal and social development’. Unit B.2.2. has the specific focus to: Assist young people in the exploration and development of their spiritual self: This is about encouraging young people to see themselves in a wider setting of relationships with others and with the environment around them. It is about enabling young people to have a sense of and value their life journey. See Appendix 5 for details of the unit. The unit describes knowledge, behaviour and values which constitute an approach to spirituality and spiritual development. It describes how young people should be encouraged to understand and know their own spiritual framework, how they can recognise and respect others’ religion, faith and spirituality and how they can use an awareness of their spiritual selves ‘to explore their feelings at times of great joy or pain in their lives’. The inclusion of a unit which focuses on the ‘spiritual self ’ is to be welcomed, both for professionals working in a faith setting and for those working in a secular context. This unit provides a challenge for the profession in how this standard can be met. The youth worker working in a faith context is challenged to give a broad approach, whilst the youth worker working in a secular post is challenged to find ways of exploring this dimension of young people’s experience. That soul which does not attain to the degree of purity corresponding with the light and vocation it has received from God can never be wholly content and at peace. St John of the Cross 4.3. Young people’s developmental stage Young people are at a stage where they are integrating different aspects of themselves. It is a stage where they endeavour to make sense of the world and construct their personal philosophy and sense of meaning. This is a time when many young people wrestle with existential questions and try and make sense of their own place in the world and their purpose in being alive. Trudi Newton has integrated Pam Levin’s theory of ‘Cycles of development’ with Jean Ilsley- Clarke’s theory to produce a developmental model (see Appendix Consultation Paper 17
  • 25. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K 6). The model has six developmental stages with the sixth stage from 13 to 18 years being the ‘integration’ stage. Stage Tasks of young person Needs, strokes Stages in Change Integration Separate Understand Application and 13 to 18-years Be independent Encourage Integration Be responsible Accept Have own needs Support Have own values Discuss Integrate sexuality Celebrate Newton indicates firstly, the tasks of the young person from each stage and secondly, what they need from others to complete these tasks successfully to enable development and growth. She says that in the integration stage the young person will call upon the ways they have developed in the past and integrate them as they build up their new identity. For example, the teenager will withdraw, explore, try new ways of doing things. They will learn at this time to apply new skills appropriately and understand the context of what they do. This integration task is one where the young person revisits and reshapes the skills acquired in their earlier years into a framework for themselves which is connected to the community framework they find themselves in. By understanding themselves they are then able to separate, become independent, responsible and start to shape their adult identity. Their spirituality is a key component in this integration, both for young people with a faith or without a faith. John Hull’s idea of ‘humanisation’ couldn’t be more appropriate a concept for this stage. The youth worker role is also made explicit using this model – that is to understand, encourage, accept, support, discuss and celebrate with the young person. 4.4. The role of youth worker The time of adolescence is particularly turbulent for a young person. Who am I? becomes a particularly demanding question. In their struggle for an answer the youth worker or animateur has a particular role to play. Formal education may enable a young person to be more in harmony with the external world (to wit Bowen and Bloom), and as a consequence with their own individual self. Youth work enables a young person to be more in harmony with his or her own self and as a consequence with the rest of the world. Both formal and informal 18 Consultation Paper
  • 26. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K education thus have a part to play in enabling young people to find their ‘real’ selves. Chandu Christian – Spirituality in the context of multi-cultural youth work in Youth and Policy, Autumn 1999 Christian in his article about spirituality in the context of multi-cultural youth work looks at the complementary role of formal and informal education. With formal education helping the young person become more in harmony with the external world and informal education helping the young person to be in harmony with his or her self. The features of this harmony with self could be broadly summed up in Maslow’s self actualisation characteristics. As already stated these characteristics correlate closely to people’s perceptions of spirituality and spiritual development. Youth workers, therefore have this potentially powerful role in helping young people know themselves, their ‘real selves’ and develop a sense of meaning and identity within their lives. See the section which refers to youth work practice in the field of spiritual development. 4.5. The ‘subversive’/enriching role of spirituality in youth work In an earlier section dualism was explored and the concept of Yin and Yang. There has been debate in youth work over the last five to ten years about the effect of increasing targeting of the work. The profession is being encouraged to look more and more at specific outcomes for young people. A lot of creative thought has been brought to bear by youth work staff and thinkers about how the existing ‘products’ of youth work can be recognised and accredited. There is widespread understanding of the advantages to young people when they can recognise distance traveled and outcomes achieved. However, another effect of increasing targeting is that youth work practice can change so that its success is measured principally in targets achieved. This can have a detrimental effect on the holistic, relationship based approach which is embedded in the values of the profession. By having something like ‘spirituality’ in the curriculum and practice there is a whole area which is much harder to pin down and constrain. The divergent nature of ‘spiritual development’ means that outcomes are much wider and individual. The outcomes are nearly all in the changes of value and meaning for the young person and these are much harder to quantify than a skill or piece of knowledge which can more easily be tested or monitored. Spirituality and spiritual development are by their nature ‘free’ subjects, and exploration of these areas potentially puts young people in touch with profound thinkers and social reformers. Where a lot of work with young people is geared to education, employment and training spiritual development is primarily about being a full human being. Spirituality as an area of the curriculum has the potential of exploring values at a deeper more profound level which results in the full education of the young person. It then also can inform the other areas of education as Christian outlined in his article. Ideally, formal and informal education are complementary, both are Consultation Paper 19
  • 27. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K needed for full and healthy development of the young person. In short, the inclusion of spirituality and spiritual development in the youth work agenda enriches the profession and the offer to young people. 4.6. Preparing young people to be canny about spiritual matters The quest for continually more satisfying and exciting experiences can lead to a disengagement from reality and can further alienate young people from those churches that do not provide constant positive experiences. Nigel Pimlott, Frontier Youth Trust, page 10 There is a concern in some areas (especially those who are concerned about recruitment into new religious movements) about the vulnerability of young people to spiritual argument and persuasion. Young people who have not had any structured contact with their own spirituality may have a range of experiences which are incoherently yet powerfully held. At a time when young people want to break away and become independent there is a great temptation in adopting a religious or spiritual framework in which their own experiences may find a home. If on the other hand young people have been encouraged to understand their own spirituality and develop a spiritual framework they have a language and facility in matters of spirituality and are potentially more canny and able to question other faith or spiritual approaches. Some young people will develop this framework within a religious context, and for these young people the challenge is understanding how others’ approach religion and spirituality and to recognise, appreciate and hopefully celebrate difference. For those young people in a secular context the challenge is to find ways of facilitating the development of their spiritual framework, understanding others and becoming astute or canny about spiritual dynamics. This is an integral part of the empowerment aspect of youth work. It also is key in developing understanding which contributes to building positive communities and community cohesion and developing an understanding of equality. ‘When “I” and “You” are absent, I’ve no idea if this is a mosque, synagogue, church or temple.’ Mahmud Sahbistari 4.7. Broad observations on the above threads The above threads give points of connection between spirituality and the youth work profession. There is a historical continuity, spirituality is part of the standards of the profession, spiritual development is a feature of adolescent maturation and it ‘fits’ with the holistic approach of the youth worker. Also it can be seen how spirituality as part of the youth work agenda 20 Consultation Paper
  • 28. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K brings a divergent quality to the curriculum and has the potential of ‘lifting’ the work and bringing it alive. Finally, there is a need to spiritually equip young people so that they can manage the world with discernment and spiritual skills. The presence of spirituality in the profession could be seen as the ‘breath’ of the profession, the animation that Christian refers to in his article that enables the holistic development of young people. 3. Has Spirituality and Spiritual Development a place in the youth work profession? 4. If yes, what does this mean in terms of policy and practice? 5. What effect does it have in how we go about face to face youth work? 6. What do we have to put in place to integrate and develop this dimension in the youth work profession, for example, training? 7. How do we discuss, debate and forward these ideas in the widest possible context, for example, working with faith and religious communities? 5. Key areas for the field to address arising from this debate 5.1. How to provide opportunities for young people to explore their spirituality A youth worker took a group of ten boys, aged 14 and 15, for a walk in Derbyshire. He knew the country well and planned the route with great care. He took the view that few young people actually enjoy walking for its own sake and therefore the journey had to be interspersed with a number of activities and incidents. The group was shown the route on a map, and someone was elected to find the route for the first part of the way. After a mile or two the group went through an old railway tunnel stopping at the centre point where it was not possible to see the light from either end. There was a good deal of clowning around in the total darkness. A little later the group stopped by a dew point and the response to the question ‘How long do we stay here was ‘five minutes or until the first one falls in’. Nobody did . . . Consultation Paper 21
  • 29. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K After lunch the youth worker took a geological hammer from his rucksack and chipped away at some pieces of rock . Asked what he was doing he responded, ‘go away, I’m busy’. Within ten minutes everyone was hunting for fossils and talking about them . . . The afternoon stop was taken by a stream and the youth worker encouraged the group to take off their boots and socks and paddle. No one had done this in a mountain stream before. The final stage of the walk included a sunset and a view – and the route had been chosen with this in mind. Education Observed 6: ‘Effective Youth Work’ (HMI, 1987) In the example above, which now sounds a bit dated, the youth worker is using a series of pre-planned activities to enable the young people to experience different things. The activities are paced, are different and ‘touch’ different parts of the young men’s experience. Being in total dark, experiencing the cold of a mountain stream, pondering on the age of rocks and fossilised creatures and viewing a sunset all have the potential to evoke awe and wonder. All offer the chance of understanding the self in relation to different parts of the world. If these young people had been taken ‘out’ of a city environment the changes and learning could have been immense. The open ended divergent offer of the experience described above is one where a sense of meaning and understanding on self can take place. Many people when asked about spiritual experiences talk of wonder and awe and many have found this through nature. Similarly, social justice issues have presented questions and queries in young people’s minds which have had to be processed – what is happening here and what is my role or relationship with it? Nigel Pimlott speaks of how spirituality and spiritual development are part of the work of the Frontier Youth Trust. There is more information about spiritual work in a secular setting as Appendix 7. I am also not advocating a necessarily complex approach. We can do some very simple things that provide really positive experiences. For example, if we are talking about ‘the light’ then why not use things like candles in a dark setting to illustrate the point in a hands on way. If we are talking about ‘sowing seeds’, then why not sow some and watch them grow. If we are talking about ‘serving’ then why not visit an old people’s home and engage in some conversation and games. I know this is really basic to some, but it is easy to forget the need to be experiential and practical in our approach. If the experiences can have a sense of mystery about them I consider this all the better in helping engage young people. Promoting ‘mystery’ means that the experience will help trigger responses that develop further exploration and 22 Consultation Paper
  • 30. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K enquiry. This should ensure that it is not just experiences that we are offering to young people, but stepping stones to learning and discovery. Nigel Pimlott, Frontier Youth Trust A popular misconception about spiritual and faith development is that it encourages dependency – the following quotes from Indian spirituality challenge this perception. It is not a question of belief. Stop believing in that which is; This is the first stage. Dare to be rational. Dare to follow reason where it may take you. Swami Vivekanda To grow is to go beyond what you are today. Stand up as yourself. Do not imitate. Do not pretend to have achieved your goal, and do not try to cut corners. Just try to grow. Swami Prajnanpad Never under any circumstances ask “how”. When you use the word “how” you really want someone to tell you what to do, some guide, some system, someone to lead you by the hand so that you lose your freedom, your capacity to observe, your own activities, your own thoughts your own way of life. Krishamurti The outward freedom that we shall attain will only be in exact proportion to the inward freedom to which we may have grown at any given moment. Mahatma Gandhi A real challenge for the sector is to understand how we can work with spirituality in a faith or secular context and to share this learning across the profession. 5.2. Role of faith communities in developing spirituality For many religions or faith traditions there is a keen responsibility to provide teaching, background and context about spiritual practice. This has the opportunity of giving young people a faith resource which they can use to frame their own spiritual experience and understanding. It also in some cases can discourage the young person from coming to their own understanding of their spiritual self. Some faiths do not view spirituality in an individual way Consultation Paper 23
  • 31. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K – it is seen as an integral part of community life and there is not the option of an individual rejecting faith as it means the rejection of the community. There is an interesting juxtaposition of where the community belonging meets the concept of individual freedom and rights. This paper is not going to be able to ‘solve’ this interesting and rich dynamic. It is, however, important that there is an active dialogue in the profession which throws light on the tensions that can be there for some young people. It is by understanding these that youth workers can help young people to enjoy belonging and developing their spirituality with their community, enjoy the benefits of individual options and choices and come to a positive understanding of what it best means for them. 5.3. What spiritual development means in a secular/statutory setting The human soul travels from the law to love, from discipline to freedom, from the moral plane to the spiritual plane. Rabindranath Tagore Many youth workers who are employed in a statutory or secular context can feel uncomfortable about the notion of spiritual development. The National Occupational Standard requires workers to understand their spiritual self, know the difference between spirituality, faith and religion and be able to facilitate a range of activities to enable young people to relate to the world in a spiritual way (from NOS Unit B2 Knowledge specification see Appendix 5). If a youth worker has not had the experience or opportunity to look at this aspect of themselves it can be a daunting prospect. The linking of Maslow’s characteristics of self actualisation with the wider understanding of spirituality gives a range of outcomes for which the broad youth work process is well equipped. It can be argued that spirituality is based on broad values which are coherent with those that underpin youth work method. If the work is based on values such as informal education, equality of opportunity, empowerment and participation and if the process of engagement is voluntary and through a relationship there is a coherence with the respect that is outlined in the ‘Golden Rule’ (see Appendix 2). This can give a starting point for the dialogue and work regarding spiritual development. It is also important that this element of youth work needs to be developed – by sharing good practice, through basic training and through academic and policy discussion. One reason why there is an apprehension about exploring spirituality and developing spiritual frameworks is a lack of basic knowledge. 24 Consultation Paper
  • 32. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K There can also be an apprehension around working with different faiths and workers can be inhibited by their lack of knowledge and not wishing to offend. A lot of work undertaken recently looking at social cohesion indicates that communities grow closer when they have an understanding of each others’ faiths and religious practices. As social cohesion and community development is part of the broad aim of youth work making spirituality a more explicit element in the curriculum could bring about positive consequences for the community. 5.4. Spiritual process and learning outcomes There is a huge reluctance among some people to think of spiritual outcomes. Some people think that spirituality is hard enough to define so trying to pin down spiritual outcomes is a step too far. However, many faiths, especially in their monastic orders, will have measures of spiritual stages. For example, in Theravada Buddhism there is a well documented scheme of meditative development through meditative states which are called Jhanas. For each Jhana there are clearly formulated descriptions of the phenomena which are associated with the stage. For example, the third Jhana is associated with the experience of waves of joy which is called piti. In Christian mysticism people have also documented stages with accompanying states and phenomena. For example, Teresa of Avila documents each stage using the metaphor of an interior castle. These measures of spiritual development are used in the context of a culture and tradition of spiritual wisdom. The context is also developed in a framework of non-attachment where there is not the notion of evolutionary, linear progress and gathering and acquiring skills. Therefore if we choose to document spiritual development through outcomes we need to ensure a culture and context of wisdom which is apart from the progressive, acquiring model of education. As the underlying government message of education currently is individuals acquiring skills and knowledge for their personal use in work and to become citizens there is a potential conflict with the ‘non-progress’ world view which accompanies much spiritual learning. Having said all of this the level of spiritual development explored here is much deeper than most people will choose to follow. But it does highlight the dilemma of providing defined spiritual outcomes within a current educational framework of skill and knowledge acquisition. Indeed, it could be argued that because spirituality does operate in this other world view, or framework, engaging with spirituality can offer a real and profound opportunity for young people to experience the world in a different way. 5.5. Social justice, social action and spirituality The notion of participation in its widest sense is a keystone for youth work. Consultation Paper 25
  • 33. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K Having a voice, challenging discrimination and disadvantage has always been part of the youth work agenda. For many people social justice emerges directly from their faith and their spiritual framework. Many faiths have strong expectations on how to treat others and are strong on inequality and injustice. If the youth worker encourages young people to reflect on their spiritual values they can also support them to express them in the community and support any social action which is based on these values. Much community cohesion work and reconciliation work encourages young people to reflect on their religious and other values and check these out with their actions. The reference earlier in the paper to the ‘Golden Rule’ (Appendix 2) shows that respect and tolerance are found in the teachings of all faiths. Some religions have tenets that encourage positive behaviour in the community and the corporate use of these to develop a corporate spirituality can help a group of young people to have a good community spirit. Some denominations have strong expectations about how members should behave and values they should hold. These may concern charity, work with disadvantaged people, social justice and active campaigning. For example, to become a Quaker there is an expectation that you will follow the peace testimony. There is also a strong tradition of campaigning and non violent protest. Satisfy the hunger of others And your hunger will be appeased All by itself. His Holiness M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Hear from the heart wordless mysteries! Understand what cannot be understood! In man’s stone-dark heart there burns a fire That burns all veils to their root and foundation. When the veils are burned away, the heart will understand completely ... Ancient Love will unfold ever-fresh forms In the heart of the Spirit, in the core of the heart. Rumi 26 Consultation Paper
  • 34. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K 6. Conclusions It is hard to think of how to conclude an exploration into the subject of spirituality and spiritual development in youth work. This is partly because of the divergent, holistic nature of the subject which resists categorisation and tidy solutions. It is also because individual youth workers have developed the spiritual dimension of their work bringing their own individual spirit to this work and to try and conflate these into a discipline feels in some way disrespectful. Having said this if the profession uses these sentiments to ‘back off ’ the subject of spirituality it will be in real danger of getting lost and being relegated behind other more easily quantifiable targets and aims. The conclusions from this paper will come from the consultation but will only come if there is a willingness to tread this somewhat difficult ground and be robust in argument and debate. The debate needs to be respectful and mindful of other’s interests and faith positions but it also needs to be undertaken in a spirit of rigour and vigour. 8. If we don’t think Spirituality or Spiritual Development is important, or don’t like the concept, how else do we describe the humanisation dimension of the work and how can we express the self actualisation process? Consultation Paper 27
  • 35. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K Questions relating to the whole report 1. To what extent do you find the overall paper convincing? Where are its strengths and weak points? 2. Are there any serious omissions from the paper, in terms of important literature or arguments, ideas and positions that are unjustly neglected? 3. Are there any elements in the paper that could be further strengthened? Do you have additional evidence to support these? Are there significant nuances, angles or implications which have been neglected? • Please photocopy, complete and return to The NYA. These proformas are also available on The NYA website at www.nya.org.uk 28 Consultation Paper
  • 36. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K 4. In the light of your reactions to the earlier questions and to the body of the paper, what further questions need to be asked to stimulate this debate? 5. At this stage, what do you think are the main implications for future research, and for policy and practice? 6. Have you any suggestions as to how best to take this debate forward in the field so that it can best inform policy and practice? • Please photocopy, complete and return to The NYA. These proformas are also available on The NYA website at www.nya.org.uk Consultation Paper 29
  • 37. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K Questions emerging from the paper to be addressed in the consultation 1. Can we define Spirituality and Spiritual Development? 2. If yes, what are the definitions? If no, can we get working understandings to forward the debate? 3. Has Spirituality and Spiritual Development a place in the Youth Work Profession? • Please photocopy, complete and return to The NYA. These proformas are also available on The NYA website at www.nya.org.uk 30 Consultation Paper
  • 38. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K 4. If yes, what does this mean in terms of Policy and Practice? 5. What effect does it have in how we go about face to face youth work? 6. What do we have to put in place to integrate and develop this dimension in the youth work profession, for example, training? • Please photocopy, complete and return to The NYA. These proformas are also available on The NYA website at www.nya.org.uk Consultation Paper 31
  • 39. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K 7. How do we discuss, debate and forward these ideas in the widest possible context, for example, working with faith and religious communities? 8. If we don’t think Spirituality or Spiritual Development is important, or don’t like the concept, how else do we describe the humanisation dimension of the work and how can we express the self actualisation process? 9. What are the other questions that need to be asked emerging from this process? • Please photocopy, complete and return to The NYA. These proformas are also available on The NYA website at www.nya.org.uk 32 Consultation Paper
  • 40. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K Appendix 1 Contribution of people with faith to informal education and youth work Lily Montagu (1873–1963), Pioneer of youth work. One of the founders of the National Organisation of Girls Clubs (now Youth Clubs UK) and a key figure in the development of Jewish youth work. Lily Montagu (1873–1963), with Maud Stanley, is one of the key figures in the development of girls clubs and work with young women. Her contribution was fourfold. First, she was a committed worker with young people. As a young woman (19) in 1893 she set up the club with her cousin in two rooms at 71 Dean Street W1 (the club was later to move to 8 Frith Street, then 8 Dean Street). The character of her work can be gauged from her own comments: ‘A club worker must enter on her career in the learning spirit. She must not attempt to foist her standards on the girls among whom she intends to work. She must study their standards, and exchange her point of view with theirs’ (Montagu 1954: 24). She placed an emphasis on sharing the government of the club with members; and on educational endeavours. The latter included discussions around various moral questions and citizenship. There was also a flourishing drama group. Second, Montagu placed a particular emphasis on campaigning and working for the improvement of young women’s working conditions – and this she carried into the political arena via organisations such as the Women’s Industrial Council. Third, she was central to the formation and development of the National Organisation of Girls Clubs. Last, she has left several important additions to the literature of youth work – including the account of her work at West Central (Montagu 1904; 1954). www.infed.org Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), Asia’s first Nobel Laureate, was born into a prominent Calcutta family known for its socio-religious and cultural innovations during the 19th Bengal Renaissance. I was brought up in an atmosphere of aspiration, aspiration for the expansion of the human spirit. We in our home sought freedom of power in our language, freedom of imagination in our literature, freedom of soul in our religious creeds and that of mind in our social environment. Such an opportunity has given me confidence in the power of education which is one with life and only which can give us real freedom, the highest that is claimed for man, his freedom of moral communion in the human world . . . I try to assert in my words and works that education has its only meaning and object in freedom – freedom from ignorance about the laws of the universe, and freedom from passion and prejudice in our communication with the human world. In my institution I have attempted to create an atmosphere of naturalness in our relationship with strangers, and the spirit of hospitality which is the first virtue in men that made civilization possible. I invited thinkers and scholars from foreign lands to let our boys know how easy it is to realise our common fellowship, when we deal with those who are great, and that it is the puny who with their petty vanities set up barriers between man and man. (Rabindranath Tagore 1929: 73–74) Consultation Paper 33
  • 41. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K We have come to this world to accept it, not merely to know it. We may become powerful by knowledge, but we attain fullness by sympathy. The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence. But we find that this education of sympathy is not only systematically ignored in schools, but it is severely repressed. From our very childhood habits are formed and knowledge is imparted in such a manner that our life is weaned away from nature and our mind and the world are set in opposition from the beginning of our days. Thus the greatest of educations for which we came prepared is neglected, and we are made to lose our world to find a bagful of information instead. We rob the child of his earth to teach him geography, of language to teach him grammar. His hunger is for the Epic, but he is supplied with chronicles of facts and dates ... Child-nature protests against such calamity with all its power of suffering, subdued at last into silence by punishment. (Rabindranath Tagore, Personality, 1917: 116-17) www.infed.org Hannah More (1745–1833). The significance of Hannah and Martha More’s activities with regard to Sunday schooling lay in the pedagogy they developed; the range of activities they became involved in; and the extent to which publicity concerning their activities encouraged others to develop initiatives. Hannah and Martha More attempted to make school sessions entertaining and varied. We can see this from the outline of her methods published in Hints on how to run a Sunday School (and reported in Roberts 1834). Programmes had to be planned and suited to the level of the students; there needed to be variety; and classes had to be as entertaining as possible (she advised using singing when energy and attention was waning). She also argued that it was possible to get the best out of children if their affections ‘were engaged by kindness’. Furthermore, she made the case that terror did not pay (Young and Ashton 1956: 239). However, she still believed it was a ‘fundamental error to consider children as innocent beings’ rather than as beings of ‘a corrupt nature and evil dispositions’ (More 1799: 44, quoted by Thompson 1968: 441). Hannah More could be said to have summed up the prevailing Evangelical attitude when she wrote: ‘Action is the life of virtue, and the world is the theatre of action’ (More 1808, quoted by Bebbington 1989: 12). Other women like Ellen Ranyard and Maude Stanley were to follow in her footsteps – but just what are we to make of Hannah More’s contribution to the development of different forms of informal education – especially youth work? First, it can be argued that she worked with young people – but significantly they were only one part of the clientele she was concerned with. Hannah More was also interested in the education of children and adults – and both her writing and her activities in Sunday schooling reflect this. To this extent, she can be understood as a theorist and practitioner of lifelong education and learning. Second, she and her sister worked with people on the basis of choice. While there were all sorts of incentives to children and young people, for example, to attend Sunday schooling, Hannah More recognised that they could not be compelled to take part. Third, relative to the schooling activities of her day, Sunday schools associated with the More sisters had a more informal air, and used a range of methods. There was more of a concern 34 Consultation Paper
  • 42. SPIRIT UA L I T Y A N D S P I R I T UA L D E V E LO P M E N T I N YO U T H WO R K with creating the right atmosphere and relationship for learning. Besides classes there were other community and welfare interventions plus some concern with social life (and this was to be a feature of later Sunday school developments). This said, the work that Hannah More was engaged in was some distance from what we later came to know as youth work. In particular, hers is an individualistic orientation. There is little recognition here of the significance of association, group and club – and her understanding of education is very firmly conditioned by her desire to convert. George Williams and the YMCA. During June and early July 1844 a series of discussions took place in rooms above Hitchcock and Roger’s drapers shop in St Paul’s Churchyard. George Williams, Christopher Smith, Edward Valentine, John Symons, and the eight, nine or ten other young men involved, discussed setting up what quickly became known as The Young Men’s Christian Association. (The debate over the number of young men involved in the original meeting where the Association was formed is reviewed by Binfield 1973: 120– 121. The discussion concerning title can be found in Shedd et al 1955: 23). They set out with ‘the view of uniting and directing the efforts of Christian young men for the spiritual welfare of their fellows in the various departments of commercial life’ (YMCA 1857: frontpiece). In other words, they began by looking to the needs of people like themselves – a form of mutual aid. As the Movement grew, those involved were quick to amend rules and activities in response to the needs they identified. For example, by 1848 the object of the Association was not just ‘spiritual’ but also ‘mental’ improvement; and the concern was with young men in general. Appendix 2 The Golden Rule Baha’I faith Lay not on any soul a load which ye would not wish to be laid upon you, and desire not for anyone the things ye would not desire for yourselves. This is my best counsel unto you, did ye but observe it Bah’u’allah: Gleanings, 128 Buddhism Just as a mother would protect her only child with her life, even so let one cultivate a boundless love towards all beings. Khuddaka Patha: Metta Sutta Christianity Do unto others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6:31 Hinduism This is the sum of duty; do naught to others if done to thee would cause thee pain. Mahabharata 5.1517 Islam No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself. An-Nawawi’s Forty Hadith 13 Consultation Paper 35